The simple life
by WindyCeiling
Summary: Itachi meets Deidara in school and said blonde follows him around. What will happen when they become friends and Itachi starts to have feelings for Deidara? ItaDei
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!**_

_This fic is __**AU ItaDei**__. It's a homosexual fix, so don't like, don't read and all that stuff. I'll ignore any annoying flame or comment about it being two guys.__I hope it will be what I want it to be, namely both an emotional and physical thing! So yes, **rated M for a reason**!_

-.-.-

**The simple life**

**Chapter one: New keychains**

Itachi was walking the familiar grounds of his school once again, after a two month summer break. He was one of the few that was actually relieved to finally be back. His days usually contained of studying and with summer break, well there just wasn't anything to study about.

Instead he had gotten so bored he had spend half of his time having his younger brother, who was walking next to him in a far more depressing mood, over for company.  
The only relief he had had from his boring vacation was the visiting of an old friend, Kisame, which had brightened up a week of the two months.

Needless to say, Itachi was thrilled to be back at school, even though he didn't show it. He could finally do the things that were important again.

"I can't believe school already started again." Sasuke huffed from next to Itachi. "And I especially can't believe how you can be so happy about it either."

Itachi simply smiled at Sasuke, knowing that telling him school could be fun if you paid attention, something he knew Sasuke rarely did, wouldn't make him like school any better.  
They said goodbye's when the bell rang and Sasuke spotted his friends, leaving quickly and reminding Itachi he needed a ride home before he got out of sight.

Itachi went to class quickly, not wanting to be late on his first day (or any other day) and he found himself to be one of the first to arrive. He felt pleased with himself as he sat down and got his stuff. People started walking in rapidly after that and soon the class started.

Itachi was scribbling down anything of importance the teacher was speaking off, in the mean time taking in what was in his textbook next to him, when suddenly the class was being interrupted half way in. The door opened brutally and a small blonde appeared in the doorway, frowning deeply.

"I'm sorry… Is this room 203?" He asked carefully. He was lost, Itachi figured.

Probably new to the school. How annoying that he choose this classroom to interrupt, just as Itachi was enjoying the subject. Biology was his favorite class.

"No I'm sorry. You must be new. Room 203 is two stairs up." The teacher told the blond, but he got a confused look in return.

"And then?"

"I'll send someone with you." The teacher said and Itachi could just feel this going even more wrong. He knew exactly who the teacher was going to pick to bring this boy to his class.

"Itachi. Would you mind?" The teacher asked, and despite that Itachi did in fact mind very much, he shook his head, gathered his stuff and left the classroom. He knew this was going to happen.

His teachers seemed to think that if anyone could miss a class, it would be Itachi. He always had perfect scores after all, he didn't need that much studying. It was very annoying though, even though it was true. He liked spending time in classes.

Almost forgetting why he wasn't _in class_ in the first place, he turned to the interruptive blonde and looked at him, putting up a friendly face.

"Room 203, follow me." He told him and started walking. The footsteps sounding loudly and oddly behind him indicated that the blonde was following him indeed.

"I'm Deidara yeah." The guy said after a few moments of silence. Itachi nodded, not planning on making converse with this guy.

"You're supposed to tell me your name now."

Itachi sighed, hoping his annoyance wouldn't be heard in it before speaking. "Itachi. Uchiha Itachi. Nice to meet you Deidara."

He said it perfectly mannered like he should have. Good.

"You looked quite annoyed when I walked in yeah. Was it an interesting lesson?" Deidara asked. Itachi inwardly groaned, but answered politely.

"I was finding the lesson very interesting, however I was certainly not irritated."

"Is that why I could see that vein popping on your forehead?"

Itachi could see Deidara grinning from the corner of his eyes.

"That never happened." He simply answered, ignoring the fact that this new guy was probably right. Sasuke had told him many times that his vein popped when he was irritated.

"Right. So are we there yet yeah?"

Itachi couldn't help but notice but the childish question (seriously, who still asked 'are we there yet' at this age) and also the manner of speaking Deidara had.

"Almost." He kept his cool.

They walked in silence the rest of the time, until they reached Deidara's room. An art room, Itachi noticed.

"This is it. Goodbye." Itachi said and turned around.

"Wait, I didn't even thank you yet yeah!" Itachi could hear Deidara yell behind him, but he was already turning a corner, hoping he wouldn't have missed most of the lesson and have to revert to doing homework when he got back instead.

-.-.-

The next morning, Itachi was walking through the school's hallways once again. He had left Sasuke once they were inside, looking for a certain someone.

Sasuke had asked him on the ride home the day before, if he had gotten a sudden artistic attack, which Itachi hadn't quite gotten until Sasuke had pointed out his bag. His _new_ bag. Which had now been drawn on with a hideous colour of pink marker, showing a bunnycaterpillar and a melon and a scribbled 'thank you', under it.

The second he saw it, he was in a slight shock, but as his mind wandered over the day, he had a pretty good guess as to whom had destroyed his bag. And he was about to confront the blonde he had only met for a brief while the day before, before class would start.

He spotted Deidara not soon after he had entered the locker hallways and went up to confront him. Deidara was easy to spot luckily, with his bright blond hair. Itachi grabbed him by the shoulder once he reached him, turning him around. Itachi knew he looked calm, but he was fuming inside.

"Oh hello yeah." Deidara said and smiled at Itachi as he recognized him.

It annoyed Itachi even more. "What do you think you were doing?" Itachi asked and earned an innocent look from Deidara, obviously fake.

"I don't know what you mean." He said, turning back to his locker and pulling out some pencils, Itachi noticed.

"You know what I'm talking about. I bought that bag just before school started again. It was brand new."

"It needed something to cheer it up. It was dull yeah." Deidara said, talking as if it was the most normal thing in the word to write on someone else's bag.

"No, it didn't."

"Yes it did."

"No."

"Yes." Itachi sighed in return.

When was the last time he had played that game with anyone? It was immature, something Itachi was sure Deidara was.

"I win." Deidara said triumphantly. Yes, very immature.

"It's not polite to draw on people's stuff." Itachi said now, trying to be polite again and teach Deidara some manners.

"It was a thank you for showing me my classroom yeah."

Deidara gave Itachi a sheepish look.

"You should have just said thank you and left it at that." Itachi said.

"But that's no fun yeah." Deidara protested. Before he could say another thing though, Itachi cut him off.

"Don't do it again. Have a nice day." He said and started to walk away, only to hear footsteps behind him.

Now footsteps behind him weren't abnormal in a busy school where students and teachers went to find their classrooms, however, Itachi remembered the annoying tap the blonde had in his walk, and he could hear it now. After a while of ignoring it and finding his way to his classroom, he knew he was still being followed, so he turned around. He was proud of himself for getting his calm façade on again once he did.

"Why are you following me?" He asked, crossing his arms. Deidara just smiled at him a little awkwardly before answering.

"Room 067?" He asked hopefully, actually earning a groan again from Itachi, who shook his head.

"You can ask someone else." He said, turning to the door and wanting to open it.

"Please?"

Itachi sighed, not being able to turn down such a pleading sound and turned to the annoying blonde once more. "Fine." He said. "But you'd better not make me late for class."

He grabbed the blonde by his arm, steering him in the right direction for a second, before heading off in front of Deidara. He also ignored the apparent proud grin on his companion's face.

-.-.-

Itachi had been late after all. The classroom Deidara had to be in was too far away to walk to and head back to his own class in mere minutes. He had shown up late for the first time in his life and he hadn't appreciated it. However, when his class was over and he was ready to leave it behind him, deciding he should just be five minutes early next time, he was met with the reason he was late.

Deidara was standing next to the door Itachi came out of and looked up immediately when he spotted him. He looked at him with that same hopeful look he had had before and Itachi sighed.

"What do you want now?" He asked. "You don't have class, it's lunchtime."

He started walking to his locker, just knowing Deidara would follow him. He was right, because when he got to his locker, Deidara stood next to him.

"Do you want to have lunch together?" Itachi managed to catch himself in time, almost having snapped at Deidara that he should find another person to follow around and replied politely again once more.

"I'm sure you can spend your time better. I need to study as well."

"But you're the only one I know here." Deidara said.

Itachi could hear a minimum amount of that pleading voice in that sentence. He wanted to smack himself for the answer he gave this time.

"Ok fine, but don't disturb me from my reading." He said, grabbed his lunch (he never ate out of the cafeteria, finding the food unhealthy), his books and went off to the cafeteria.

Deidara quickly caught up, a grin on his face and they seated themselves down at a small, empty table. Itachi just noticed that Deidara had some art supplies with him.

Deidara put the stuff down and excused himself to get his food. When he came back, Itachi was reading one of his biology textbooks .

"Aren't you going to eat yeah?" Deidara asked as he sat down next to Itachi and started eating his sandwiches. Itachi wanted to ignore him at first, but decided it was his own fault for agreeing to spending lunch together, so he answered.

"I'm eating in a minute, I need to read this chapter first."

He saw Deidara shrugging and picking up some of his markers he had put on the table, then started to draw on the table. Itachi let out a groan, hoping Deidara would get the hint. Deidara just scribbled on though and Itachi felt obligated to step in. The school was supposed to be a neat place and he wouldn't let anyone vandalize school supplies.

"Don't do that, that table is not yours." He said calmly.

"I paid for this school so I paid for the table, so it's mine yeah." Deidara said, a grin on his face.

That grin faded quickly and was replaced by a glare when Itachi snatched the marker from him.

"What'you do that for?" Deidara asked annoyed, and hissed something at Itachi when he grabbed the other markers away as well.

"You're not supposed to be writing on the tables." Itachi said, putting the markers away.

"I wasn't writing, I was drawing. Give me back my markers, they aren't yours." Deidara mimicked Itachi's voice when he said the last part.

"You can't draw on tables either." Itachi ignored Deidara ridiculing his words.

"Well give them back, I'll draw on something else." Deidara said, reaching over to Itachi to get them from where they lay on his other side.

"No."

Itachi tried to push Deidara back, but the blonde was persistent and pushed back, laying almost over Itachi to get to his markers. He finally captured one and quickly sat back, leaving Itachi to glare at him. Deidara was now smiling.

"Don't look at me like that yeah. I'll draw on something that belongs to me."

The blonde resorted to drawing on his own pants now and Itachi gave him a confused look before getting back to his reading. Deidara sure was a weird guy.

They sat in silence until lunch was almost over, when Deidara decided to break the silence.

"How old are you?" He asked.

"Twenty-one. Why do you ask?"

He looked up from his book slightly.

"Trying to talk to you yeah. I'm nineteen." Deidara said and put his marker away, then looked at Itachi hopefully again.

Itachi sighed and handed him the rest of his markers. He couldn't help but feel like a mother, withholding his child from doing something bad.

"You'll walk me to class again right?" Deidara asked now.

Itachi wanted to shake his head and tell him once again to go and ask someone else, but for some reason, he decided not to. It would probably lead to Deidara wining anyway. The guy had been acting like an eight year old from the start.

So Itachi agreed to walking Deidara to class again. It eventually led him to walking with Deidara to all of his classes that day.

-.-.-

At the end of the week, Itachi found himself walking Deidara to class every day, to every single class.

Somehow Deidara had managed to find him every time and Itachi had given up trying to avoid him halfway through Wednesday.

Itachi had also found Deidara's company to be less of a drag then he had expected it to be. As long as you granted him some things, he was easy to talk to and not nearly as annoying as other people who tried to befriend him. Not that Deidara and him could be considered friends, but at least Itachi didn't despise his company.

Speaking of the blonde, he could hear the funny tapped footsteps coming his way and he soon heard his name called. He turned around from his locker, giving Deidara a slight smile as he arrived. Deidara returned it and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Hello Deidara." He said, getting one more book out of his locker before closing it.

"Hey. Did you sleep well yeah?" Deidara asked and Itachi nodded.

"How about you?"

"Like a rose. Walk with me yeah?" He asked, but Itachi knew there was no arguing, so he followed the blonde to his locker.

Something was a little off though, Deidara acted strange. Almost as if he was nervous. Itachi decided not to ask, knowing that might only make Deidara more nervous, for whatever reason he was in the first place.

Deidara opened his locker, but instead of grabbing a book, Deidara pulled out a neatly packed present.

Itachi frowned.

"What is that?" He asked. For a second, Itachi thought he saw Deidara blush, but when Deidara turned to him with a grin, he figured it was just his imagination.

"I bought you a present yeah." He handed Itachi the present and Itachi frowned.

"Why?"

"I thought I'd apologize for ruining your bag this way."

The blonde was still having a grin on his face.

Suddenly Itachi wasn't so sure he wanted to know what was in the small present. But he opened it anyway and was met with a keychain with several hangers on it.

One was of a book, another was a DNA strap and the last one was… very much Deidara. A little caterpillar, one that resembled the one drawn on his bag.

Itachi had to suppress a chuckle at the last one.

"Thank you Deidara." He said. "You didn't have to."

"I figured you could hang it from your bag yeah. Give me." Deidara pulled the keychain from Itachi's hand and put it on his bag.

"There. Do you like it?" He asked, smiling broadly at Itachi, who smiled back slightly.

"Yes it's nice. What's with the DNA thing?" He asked.

"You were in biology class when I interrupted you right? It's a reminder from where we met."

Itachi couldn't say he wasn't a little bit touched by that. They had barely known each other for five days and Deidara was already bringing up these kind of things as if he knew they were gonna be good friends.

"Thank you." Itachi said. "Let's get you to your classroom." Deidara nodded, grinning again. They walked together all day that day again.

-.-.-

Once the day was over and Deidara had picked up Itachi from his final class, the two walked to Itachi's locker. They were chatting about their last class. Deidara was wining about how math was the most useless subject in the world.

"I just don't get why we would have to know all these things. They're so useless yeah."

"Math isn't useless, it comes in handy all the time."

"I don't mean subtracting and adding, but all those formula's. They're so stupid."

"You'll find out that it can be very usefull some day." Itachi opened his locker and pulled out the books he needed to study that day.

"Hey Itachi. Can we do something after school today? It's the weekend and all." Deidara said, looking at Itachi.

Itachi didn't know what to say for a second. He never took people home, he never had friends over or went to their places (mostly because he didn't have any), so this was new. He would normally study all day long, but he had to admit, this might be a nice change.

"Sure. Your place or mine?" Itachi asked.

"Yours yeah."

Itachi wondered why Deidara had answered so quickly, but he let it rest. He closed his locker and turned to Deidara.

"Ok. Do we need to go by your locker?"

Deidara shook his head and grabbed Itachi's arm, pulling him away with a smile on his face. It made Itachi smile in return. Deidara really had a weird effect on him, Itachi noticed, and he wondered why that was. He made him forget about things like homework, classes and all other things Itachi found important.

It also made him forget all about Sasuke, who needed a ride home as well.

-.-.-

_Author's Notes: Poor Sasuke has been left behind!_

_This is my first story on my own and I hope people will review._  
_Hope you enjoy!_

The next chapter is also here already, just because I felt this was more of an intro, the other chapter is more fun to read.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two: Paint is for the living**

Itachi didn't know how it happened, but after the first time Deidara had come to his house, it had happened more and more times. They spend a lot of free time together and not just because they had become friends.

A month after their first meeting, Deidara had actually taken it upon himself to give Itachi's house a makeover.  
Itachi had argued with Deidara about it for hours, telling him that his house was perfectly fine the way it was and it was how he liked it.

Deidara though, wouldn't have any of it, and Itachi had decided to just go along with it. He didn't want to fight Deidara, since he actually liked thinking about spending more time with the blonde. He didn't know why.

Since Deidara wasn't going to listen to him, Itachi decided he could at least try and be happy about the change.

Itachi had been living alone for a few years now and Deidara had made it quite clear that his house was dull, boring, grey and nothing positive was happening in there. He had asked Itachi if he had the money to brighten it up. Itachi had. His parents were rich so they provided for him in practically every way.

His mother would be thrilled if he changed his place. He hadn't been too sure he wanted Deidara involved in that though. He didn't want his place to be filled with caterpillar paintings and bright colours, like he knew Deidara would want it to be. He didn't want the time he and Deidara spend together to end though, so he had agreed.

Right now, they were coming back from shopping for wall paint. His stuff had been cleared out of the way in the living room, so they could paint it.

"So which wall do you want to be striped yeah?" Deidara asked.

Deidara had decided the walls needed the most work, because they were plain white (and boring according to Deidara). He had told Itachi they needed to paint a wall and they needed to give another one stripes.

"We'll see when we're home. You're probably gonna decide anyway." Itachi said, but gave Deidara a smile.

Deidara had allowed Itachi to pick the colour, as long as it wasn't grey. So he picked blue. Deidara hadn't agreed and then picked out some orange colour instead. It wasn't all too bright, but Itachi found it just too… colourful.

He had agreed though, when Deidara had looked at him hopefully again.

"Not if you pick the right wall yeah." Deidara grinned at Itachi, who opened the door and let Deidara in.

They set the paints down and Deidara crashed on the couch.

"Let's take a break first, ok Itachi?"

"Sure. Tired already? We haven't even started yet."

"I'm not tired, I'm resting so that I can be artistic later yeah!"

Itachi let out a small chuckle as he sat down next to the blonde.

"Can I borrow some old clothes of yours?" Deidara asked as they sat in silence for a while.

"I'll get you some."

Itachi went to his room to get on old shirt and pants and then went back to give them to Deidara.

"You can change in my room if you want."

Deidara nodded, took the clothes and changed.

Itachi looked around a little now. He had gotten used to his surrounding the way they were. However, he was also used to spending his time alone studying and he had liked the change. The change Deidara had given him. It was strange, he never thought a single person could change his lifestyle, and now that same person was gonna change his house, just like that.

It was sudden, so sudden it overwhelmed Itachi a little.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by his bedroom door opening.

"They're a little big." Deidara was wearing a black shirt, the was hanging over his shoulders slightly. The pipes of Itachi's pants were covering both his feet completely and Itachi couldn't help but smile. Deidara looked cute this way. Cute? Why was he thinking of that word?

Itachi shook the thoughts off and walked to Deidara, kneeling down to fold the pipes up a little.

"There. The shirt is fine."

"It's too big, but I can work with it."

Itachi saw Deidara pull his hair into a high ponytail and he smiled again. Quickly fleeing to his room with the excuse of changing, he left Deidara by himself.  
He was left with his thoughts again, as he slowly changed into other clothes.

Deidara really had an odd effect on him. Whenever he was around Itachi felt himself more relaxed than usual. He was forgetting things and he was having thoughts about Deidara as well. Thoughts he really shouldn't have. Things like finding him cute or appealing, that kind of things. Things he normally should be feeling for girls.

However, Itachi always knew he would never feel that way for a girl. He just hadn't expected them to grow when he met a guy.

"Itachi!"

Itachi couldn't help but chuckle when the source of all his over thinking was yelling at him like that. Itachi quickly pulled on the rest of his clothes and then went back to the living room.

"Sorry, I had trouble with finding the right clothes." He said.

"Ok. Come help yeah." Deidara was already busy painting one wall orange now.

Itachi smirked slightly, picking up a paint roller and dipped it in the paint as well.

"I thought I could pick which walls would be coloured."

"You took too long so I picked yeah."

"I can see that. You picked the biggest wall."

"I want to paint a lot."

Itachi smiled at that as he saw Deidara busy with the wall, he himself started painting as well. He had to admit, he liked the colour.

"You like art a lot hm?" He asked.

Deidara nodded. "It makes me feel free yeah."

"Free?"

"Nobody tells me what to do when I do art, I can do what I want."

Itachi smiled at that once more, noticing that he was smiling a lot lately as well.

"So what do you need to feel free from then?"

Deidara shrugged. "I don't know. School. Home. Life yeah." He answered. Itachi didn't like the sound of that.

"Don't you enjoy life?"

When did this conversation become so heavy?

"I enjoy life. To the fullest yeah. But sometimes you need to be free from everything." Deidara smiled at Itachi, who let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding.

As he was about to get back to painting, he felt something wet on his arm. Looking at it, he saw it was bright orange and Deidara was grinning at him, paintbrush still in hand.

"Why did you do that?" Itachi asked confused.

"You shouldn't take everything so heavy. You always do that yeah." Deidara answered, giving him a grin before turning back to the wall.

Itachi got back to painting as well, thinking of that. Deidara had a point. He had the tendency to make anything more than it is. He just didn't want to regret anything, so he had to take everything seriously.

He felt something wet across his cheek now.

"You're doing it again."

Itachi couldn't help but smile at Deidara before taking his own paintbrush and painted on the shirt Deidara was wearing.

"It's not very nice to paint me you know." Itachi said and earned a smirk from Deidara.

"Says the one who just painted me yeah."

"I painted your shirt. Or rather _my_ shirt."

"I painted _you_."

Itachi let out a chuckle now. "I know, I should take revenge."

He put his paintbrush in the paint again and then painted Deidara's ear. Deidara quickly took a few steps back, acting as if he was very displeased, but then laughed.

"That's gross yeah." He put his finger on the tip of his paintbrush, aimed it at Itachi and then let go, making the paint drops go all over the place. Itachi returned the favour and just like that they started a paint competition. Deidara quickly got the upper hand though. He was simply quicker and knew how to use his paintbrush.

Itachi wouldn't have any of it, and in the heat of the battle, he managed to grab Deidara from behind, sneaking an arm around his waist.

In that flash of a moment, the tension rose and both boys stood still, frozen in the spot. Itachi's arm was wrapped around Deidara and suddenly Itachi noticed how close they were. Where did this tension come from and why wasn't Deidara moving anymore? Why wasn't he _himself_ moving anymore?

Itachi could feel Deidara's breathing as they stood there in silence, before he finally had the courage to pull away.

"Let's get back to painting the walls." He said and put his brush to the wall again.

He could see Deidara nodding from the corner of his eyes and turning back to painting the wall again as well.

The air was thick for at least ten minutes, as neither spoke. But then Itachi felt something wet on his arm once again. He looked to the side and saw Deidara smirking at him, then turning back to the wall. Itachi smiled. He must have misread the whole situation again. Maybe the air was only thick for him.

Deidara must not have even noticed how nervous touching the blonde had made Itachi.

-.-.-

"Pfew, that was more work than I thought it would be yeah."

Itachi put the last swipe of paint on the wall as he saw Deidara sitting down on the couch carefully, making sure it wouldn't get stained with paint.

"It's done now. Do you want a drink?" Itachi asked, putting away his own paintbrush.

Deidara nodded. "Some lemonade if you have that yeah. I like the walls now."

Itachi just nodded as he went to get some drinks. Deidara was right though, the walls were better. They weren't screaming orange like Itachi had expected. The striped orange wall was nice as well.

As Itachi came back, Deidara was staring at the walls, satisfied. Itachi handed him his lemonade and sat down as well.

"I like the walls Deidara. You picked the colour well." He smiled slightly.

"Thanks yeah. I figured you would like it. It was nice right, painting? Next time we'll change the Furniture."

"You want to change the furniture too?"

"Of course, look at how dull they are yeah."

"I like my furniture."

"You liked your walls as well and they were dull too."

"What furniture would you pick?"

Itachi wasn't sure why he was asking that. This sounded like he was agreeing on buying new Furniture.

Maybe he was.

"I wouldn't pick a grey bench, that's for sure. Maybe a white one, and then throw some pillows on them yeah. And pretty chairs, you need pretty chairs." Deidara said.

"What do you mean by pretty chairs?"

"You'll just have to find out when we go shopping for them yeah."

Itachi watched Deidara grin at him and then shook his head amused.

"Fine, have it your way. It's late, do you want to stay for dinner?"

Deidara nodded smiling.

"Love to. Can you cook?" He asked.

"I've been living alone for a while now, I can keep myself alive obviously."

Itachi knew he was not giving himself enough credit. His mother had taught him how to cook at a young age. He had been a natural at it.

"Good yeah. I'll help." Deidara got up from the couch and dragged Itachi from his seat as well.

The two went to the kitchen, where Deidara decided they were gonna eat pancakes, whether Itachi had the ingredients or not. It didn't take long before they had the batter ready and Itachi started making the pancakes out of it.

It also didn't take long before Deidara came up with the 'brilliant' idea that he wanted to flip the pancakes by tossing them in the air. It went wrong of course, and the half baked pancake landed on the ground.

"Whoops."

Deidara stared at the pancake that lay ruined on the floor.

"I could have told you that would happen."

"But you didn't yeah."

Itachi sighed and started cleaning up.

"Can I try it with another one?"

"No."

"Please?"

Silence. More silence. Itachi could feel Deidara putting up his pleading eyes.

"Fine." He finally said. "But if you ruin that one too, you'll never flip a pancake in my house ever again."

Deidara apparently was pleased with that answer. Maybe he knew Itachi would let him try over and over again until finally he got the hang of it after the sixth try.

"I did it yeah!" The blonde said enthusiastic.

Itachi smiled at him now. "Yes I saw. Very good."

"You can have that one. Specially flipped for you yeah."

"Thank you."

Itachi smiled at Deidara, who smiled back. Itachi was slowly finding out that Deidara might have an effect on him with that smile for a reason. But he was not going to jump to conclusions. He was just enjoying the company for now.

Itachi's smile grew.

"Let's make more." He said.

-.-.-

Somehow, after the two had eaten a _lot_ of pancakes, they ended up watching TV together until it was too late for Deidara to go home. So Itachi had offered for him to sleep over and Deidara had agreed.

Itachi felt slightly nervous about having someone else sleeping in his house with him though. He wasn't sure how to do this. He had a spare bedroom for whenever Sasuke would stay over. He figured Deidara could sleep there.

Would it be weird to sleep in the same bed? It probably would. Having Deidara in the spare bedroom was probably for the best.

"What are you thinking about?"

Deidara woke Itachi from his thoughts. They were still sitting on the couch, the TV was on as well.

"Oh, nothing really. You can sleep in the spare bedroom tonight."

"What? No, that's not fun. Don't you have a mattress I can put on the floor in your room yeah?"

"Why do you wanna sleep in my room?" Itachi felt himself become slightly nervous.

"Because then it won't be so lonely and we can talk if we want yeah. So I'll sleep in your room. Where can I find a mattress?"

Itachi got up and went up the stairs, Deidara following him. He could hear that strange tap in Deidara's walking again and suddenly he wondered why that tap was even there.

"Deidara. You have a funny walk."

"Do I?"

"Yeah, when I hear you following, it's like you take an extra step or something."

"Oh that." Deidara walked next to Itachi now and looked at his left foot. "I had an accident and now I can't roll my foot like most people. So I have to land on the back first and then land on my toes."

As he explained, Deidara was smiling.

"Isn't that quite serious?" Itachi asked.

Deidara hit Itachi in the shoulder, smirking. "I told you not to take everything so seriously. It's fine yeah. Everyone has something right."

"I guess. So it doesn't hurt?"

"Only if I walk for an entire day. Now where is the mattress?"

Itachi opened a big closet and pulled out an extra mattress. He wondered how this was going to end up. He probably shouldn't be so nervous. Deidara wouldn't sleep in his bed anyway.

Just in his room.

-.-.-

The next morning, Itachi woke up from the sunlight that was shining in his face. He groaned and then stretched a little.

Itachi was definitely a morning person, but he had stayed up far too long that night to get up any earlier. Deidara had kept him awake by talking nonstop.

Itachi turned to see if Deidara was awake, only to find the mattress next to his bed was empty.

"Deidara?" Itachi asked, but he got no answer. Frowning, he got up from his own bed and pulled on his robe.

He walked out of his room, downstairs and into the living room. He found Deidara there. And when he wanted to tell him good morning, he found something else in the room. Something he really didn't want there.

He was met with another of those ridiculous caterpillar's Deidara seemed to love. It was painted on the wall next to the fireplace.

"What the hell did you do?"

Deidara turned around now, looking innocent and then smirked.

"Now now Itachi, I didn't think you approved of swearing."

"Why a caterpillar in heavens name?" Itachi ignored Deidara's remark.

"They're cute. You needed something cute."

"Caterpillars are not cute."

"Yes they are yeah."

"No. And we're not playing this game of yes and no." Itachi quickly said as he saw Deidara opening his mouth. Instead he now pouted.

"Well I think they're cute, please leave it on there yeah."

"Fine. I guess it does look good, although it's weird."

Itachi walked to the kitchen now and started getting stuff for breakfast.

"Are you angry?"

Itachi hadn't even heard Deidara walk into the kitchen, but he was standing right next to him. How did that happen?

"No. Why would I be angry?"

"'Cause you don't like me drawing and painting on your stuff yeah?"

"I don't mind. Not anymore."

"You don't?"

Itachi sighed and turned to Deidara.

"I have to admit I thought it was annoying at first. But now I just have to adjust to it. It's nice having something a bit more unpredictable in my life."

Deidara smiled at that and Itachi smiled back.

"And you're telling me I take things too serious." He earned a fist to his shoulder.

"Shut up yeah." The two smirked at each other, before Itachi turned to make breakfast.

"I'll make us some eggs." He said.

They made breakfast, talking about small things until it was ready. They put the food on the table in silence.

When they sat down to eat, Deidara started talking again.

"Can I ask you something yeah?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Do you like someone?"

Itachi nearly choked on the piece of egg he just put in his mouth as he looked up at Deidara.

Shit.

-.-.-

_Author's note: Cliffhanger!_

Thanks for reading this. Next chapter is coming up, it'll take some time though. I'm going to work as hard as I can.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three: Foreign friends**

Itachi was at a loss for words. Did Deidara seriously just ask him if he liked someone? What was he going to say? He wasn't even sure if he liked anyone. And if he did, it was the blonde sitting across from him.

So what was he gonna say?

"I - I don't know. Maybe." He finally answered. Deidara snorted.

"Maybe? That's a lousy answer. So who is she yeah?"

"No one. There is no she Deidara."

"You said maybe, that means there has to be someone. You can tell me yeah." Deidara looked at Itachi, patiently waiting for an answer.

"Fine there is someone."

How did he end up admitting this to Deidara, sooner than officially admitting it to himself? There was no turning back now, he definitely liked Deidara.

Itachi saw Deidara's eyes lighting up.

"There is? Who is she? How do you know her? Is she in your class? Is she pretty yeah? Is she.."

"She's not in my class." Itachi interrupted.

Why was he calling Deidara a she now? Why not just tell him it's him? Could he do that? No, Deidara would definitely be freaked out about it. It wasn't so usual to be gay.

"Not? Then how do you know her? Tell me, I want to know yeah."

"I can't tell you who she is. Maybe you'll find out sometime."

"That's not fair. What's her name?"

"Deidara." Itachi sighed.

"What? You're my friend, I want to know who you think will make you happy."

Itachi almost wanted to laugh now. Deidara had no idea that Itachi already knew who made him happy. His _friend_. When had they officially become friends?

Fingers snapped in front of his face and as he looked up, Deidara was hanging halfway over the table, snapping his fingers in front of Itachi.

"Itachi, snap out of it yeah."

Itachi looked at Deidara for a while and then nodded.

"You're taking this serious too. She must be important. So who is she? Tell me yeah."

Itachi shook his head.

"I would like to keep this to myself for a while ok?" He wasn't ready to tell Deidara. He didn't know if he would ever be ready. Because what if Deidara didn't approve of two man being together in the first place? Then a relationship was never going to happen and he would ruin their friendship too.

He heard Deidara sighing.

"Ok. But you have to tell me someday. I'm dying to know what kind of girl would be able to steal your heart yeah."

"I will." Itachi nodded and they ate their breakfast in silence.

When they were done, Itachi brought the plates to the sink.

"Hey Itachi, we should go buy new furniture today yeah." Deidara said cheery.

Itachi smiled at him while shaking his head.

"As you wish Deidara. But please promise me that you will not talk me into buying a couch full of caterpillar pictures." He smirked and Deidara laughed.

"Promise. I'll have to talk you into buying caterpillar chairs then yeah." He joked and this time it was Itachi's turn to laugh.

"Yippee." He said sarcastic and both laughed.

"Itachi." Itachi looked at Deidara, hearing the change in his voice.

He waited for Deidara to continue.

"If you and that girl get together, will you still be my friend?"

Itachi frowned now.

"Of course I will." That _girl_ was Deidara himself after all.

"'Cause we haven't known each other for that long. So I could understand if you didn't mind if we'd spend more or less time together yeah."

"Idiot. I enjoy your company. Don't worry, I'm sure I won't be in a relationship any time soon anyway."

Deidara looked at Itachi questioning now, but let it rest. Itachi wondered why, but he didn't feel like bringing this all up again. He had some thinking to do about the subject before talking about it.

"Hurry up ok? I wanna go get that furniture yeah." Deidara said after a moment of silence. His grin was back on his face and Itachi smiled.

The blonde was right, he was taking things way too serious.

Itachi smiled at Deidara again, like he always did and then nodded. Things would at least be fine for now. Itachi would just have to wait and see how it would go in the future.

-.-.-

Itachi was cooking dinner and thinking of everything that had happened. After having bought an entire new living room over the past few weeks, Deidara had decided that the bedroom could use some work as well.

So earlier that day, the two friends had bought blue and white paint, to paint over the grey walls. Itachi had to admit Deidara knew what he was doing. The living room looked great, Itachi's taste, but a lot brighter.

When they had come back to Itachi's home, Deidara had almost immediately left, saying he had other stuff to do. Itachi had been rather disappointed to think of spending the day alone. It barely ever happened, Deidara was near almost all the time.

So Itachi had called Sasuke to come over for dinner. He had promised to be there at least an hour early to help with the cooking, but as usual Itachi was standing behind the stove alone. He was almost done too.  
And of course, at that moment, the doorbell rang several times, indicating Sasuke was at the door. Itachi chuckled a little as Sasuke rang the doorbell again after several moments of silence. His little brother was so impatient.

Itachi quickly made sure everything was save on the stove, then went to get the door (from which the bell was still ringing).

"Sasuke jeez." Itachi said as he opened the door for his little brother, who walked inside.

"What took you so long?"

"The food maybe. Which you were supposed to help me with by the way."

"I'll help you eat it." Sasuke smirked and Itachi shook his head.

"Fine. Then at least set the table." The two brothers walked to the kitchen together, where Sasuke got the plates and cutlery.

Itachi handled the food again.

"So what have you been doing Sasuke?" He asked.

"Nothing much. You've been so busy lately that I had Neji come over pretty much every day."

"Well at least you haven't been spending all that time alone."

Sasuke snorted.

"You're lucky I have friends, unlike you did before Blondie entered your life." He said.

"His name is Deidara. And yes. I'm glad you have friends 'unlike me'." He gave Sasuke a smirk, which was returned.

"So why do you hang around with him? He seems a little odd. And he changed your house and all. I thought you liked it the way it was."

"I did, but it was a nice change. Deidara is a nice change."

Itachi earned a confused look from Sasuke now, and he knew perfectly well why.

"He's just a very nice guy Sasuke." Itachi quickly said.

"Oh come on. You don't just hang out with nice guys. I know you're gay so you must like him."

Itachi gave Sasuke a look now, a look that said 'what the hell would you know'. But he knew Sasuke spoke the truth.

"I never said anything like that. And since when am I gay? I've never been with anyone." He said.

"Oh please, that is exactly why you're gay. Girls practically launch themselves at us, you could have had a girlfriend ages ago."

Itachi had to admit, it was funny how well Sasuke read him. They never talked about relationships, since neither Sasuke nor him had ever had a solid one. Yet here Sasuke was, telling him he was gay, which was definitely the truth, he found out.

"I haven't exactly been with guys either." He said though and smirked to himself.

Sometimes, arguing with Sasuke was just fun.

"Neither have I, does that mean I can't be gay?"

"Are you?"

"No."

"Exactly. But you are right. I'm gay."

Itachi turned off the gas and put a pan on the table.

"Well then, are you into that blonde?" Sasuke asked as he sat down and eyed the pan.

Sasuke was obviously hungry and it amused Itachi.

"Deidara. His name is Deidara. And I have to admit that he has caught my attention."

Itachi was glad to finally admit it out loud like this. He knew Sasuke would understand, although he seemed to have a certain resentment towards Deidara.

"You like him, just say it. You want to kiss him and touch him and do stuff to him." Sasuke laughed.

"You're such a child. Yes I like him. I'll leave it in the open what I want to do with him."

Sasuke smirked at that.

"So what are you going to do with it then?" He asked.

"I don't know."

Itachi sat down as well and Sasuke and him dished up their plates.

"You're going to tell him right?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"I don't know Sasuke. I don't want to ruin the friendship I have with him."

"But you like him. You have to tell him."

"It could ruin things."

"It could give you a boyfriend. Not that I want you to be with that weirdo."

"Sasuke." Itachi said stern.

"What? You have to admit he's a weirdo."

"He's not a weirdo. He enjoys life, he does what he likes."

"He draws on everything, decided you needed that freaky caterpillar on your wall. He's weird."

"You know, I didn't except you to offend the person I just admitted I liked." Itachi said.

"Sorry. I'm glad you found someone, I just don't get why you picked him. I know I would never ever pick such a wei-"

"Sasuke stop. I don't wanna hear it anymore." Itachi interrupted. "He's not a weirdo."

"Ok sorry. I'm happy for you. But you have to tell him." Sasuke said.

"Maybe someday."

"No, you have to tell him. You've been trying all these new things, so try having a relationship with someone you actually like."

Sasuke looked at Itachi stern this time.

"I guess I will tell him soon. I really do like him."

"He's your complete opposite."

"Opposites attract apparently is a fair saying." Itachi grinned at Sasuke, who returned it.

"For some people, I guess it is." He said.

"Now let's finish this meal, I didn't spend my time in the kitchen to let it go cold."

Sasuke nodded and the two brothers ate their dinner, talking about life. In the mean time, Itachi was contemplating on how to bring the news to Deidara.

This was really a bigger deal then he had expected. He wanted to do it right.

-.-.-

A week later, Itachi was sitting on the couch, waiting for his blonde friend to pop up. Deidara had called him and told him he had exciting news. Itachi had insisted he tell him on the phone, but Deidara wanted to tell him in person. He had hung up before Itachi could protest.

So now Itachi was waiting and while he was, he was thinking of telling Deidara about his feelings. They had grown even more that week and he just had to tell him. Now that Deidara was so excited for some reason, it seemed like the right time.

As Itachi was about to get something to drink, the doorbell rang and Itachi felt his heart suddenly beating in his throat. He was nervous about this and he was barely ever nervous about anything.

He made a turn to the door and opened it to find a beaming blonde before him.

"Hi!" Deidara said and let himself in, amusing Itachi like he always did.

"Hello Deidara. You're happy."

It made Itachi happy too, to see Deidara this way.

"Yes I am. Big news! My best friend is coming to town, I haven't seen him in ages yeah!"

That threw Itachi off a little. He looked at Deidara, urging him to go on.

"He's been my friend for ages when I was still living in Europe."

"You lived in Europe?" Deidara had never told him that.

"Yeah, during my childhood. I moved here when I was sixteen yeah." Deidara answered.

"Are you from Europe?" Itachi asked.

He had thought about it before, that Deidara must have been from somewhere else. He was so blonde and his eyes were extremely blue.

He hadn't expected Deidara to have lived in Europe for sixteen years though.

"From Germany. My mother is German and my father is an American. You probably figured I'm not from here before yeah?"

Itachi nodded.

"But you were telling me about your friend." He wanted to know who this person was.

"Right. His name is Sasori. He's thirty five now and he's been my best friend since forever yeah. I haven't seen or talked to him in ages." Deidara continued.

"Why not?"

"Oh just because we didn't really have a nice goodbye."

"What happened?" Itachi asked. He was both curious now as a little nervous about the answer.

Deidara was fidgeting with his hair and he only ever did that when he had done something he regretted. Like the day he had painted Itachi's pants pink. Itachi had been angry, but he had noticed that Deidara was fidgeting with his hair when he came to apologise.

"Well he wasn't _just _my best friend." Deidara explained.

Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly at that. This wasn't what he wanted to hear, he was sure of that.

"He was my boyfriend yeah." Deidara spoke softly, not meeting Itachi's eyes anymore.

Itachi wasn't sure if he should be happy about the fact that that meant Deidara liked guys, or sad because Deidara's ex was coming to town.

He was upset about that, that was for sure.

"You don't think that's disgusting right?" Deidara asked carefully and Itachi looked at him.

"Of course not. Why would I?"

"Because he's a man. And he's sixteen years older yeah."

Itachi had to admit that he found the age distance a little disturbing. He had not expected that. But all he cared about now was the fact that he could not come clean with Deidara about his feelings now.

Because what if Deidara still had feelings for his _friend_? He had to find out about that first.

"Do you think differently of me now yeah?" Deidara asked, snapping Itachi out of his thoughts.

"No Deidara. It's a little weird you had a relationship with someone who's so much older then you." He answered.

"It's a big age gap yeah."

"Yes it is. But if it made you happy." Itachi said. "Why did you break up?"

"I decided to move away. He wasn't happy."

"I can understand that. You moved far away."

"I told him he could go with me, but he declined. We got into a fight after that yeah."

Itachi noted that Deidara didn't look happy about that. It did make him jealous, because it made him think Deidara did in fact still have feelings for that Sasori guy.

"He called me today, telling me he was sorry and he wants to reconcile. He's even thinking of moving here yeah." Deidara looked happy again and that frustrated Itachi even more.

He wasn't showing it though, that would be far too emotional.

"Do you think the two of you could get back together?" He just had to ask. Deidara shrugged.

"Dunno. I don't know what he's like now." He said. "I don't think we will. Things have changed in my life yeah."

"When is he coming?" Itachi asked.

"Tomorrow. I'm going to pick him up from the airport. You should really meet each other, I think you might like him yeah."

"You should introduce us then." Itachi wasn't looking forward to that. What would he say to Deidara's ex boyfriend?

"I will. Can I stay the night today? You're place is closer to the airport yeah." Deidara asked.

"Sure. What would you like for dinner then?"

"Let's make more pancakes yeah!" Deidara already hurried himself to the kitchen and Itachi slowly followed. Itachi knew he normally would have smiled at how Deidara acted.

However this time he was upset.

He had lost his chance to tell Deidara his feelings. And with that guy coming, he wasn't sure if he would ever get a second chance.

-.-.-

The next day, Itachi was driving in his car to the airport, Deidara by his side. He had offered Deidara a ride to go get his friend from the airport and he had no idea why he had done that. Deidara had happily agreed, thanking Itachi over ten times, but Itachi really wasn't pleased.

He knew this was going to be odd and he knew this was a stupid idea. But Deidara seemed pleased with it, and that was what mattered.

"I'm so excited yeah." Deidara exclaimed. "Are we there yet?"

Itachi grinned at that. Idiot.

"Almost, just a few more minutes." He told Deidara.

In those few minutes, Deidara told Itachi all about how excited he was that Sasori was coming, that they had been such good friends, that he couldn't wait to tell Sasori about his life just like in the 'good old days'.

It annoyed Itachi to no end, but he plastered a small smile on his face. Not even five minutes later, Itachi had parked his car away and the two friends were walking to the gate where Sasori would be picked up.

As they stopped between the other people who were picking up friends and family, Deidara grabbed Itachi's arm, jumping up and down slightly.

"I wonder what he looks like yeah!"

Itachi smiled at his friend, then was suddenly yanked to the side by Deidara.

"There he is!" He yelled, earning some foul looks from the people around them.

Itachi saw Deidara waving and followed his gaze. He saw people come out of the gate, meeting their friends and family, before his eyes rested on a redheaded guy.

The guy looked at them and then walked their way. Itachi figured that that should be Sasori. The guy looked rather bored, and as he neared Itachi and Deidara, Itachi noticed that he was fairly small. Even smaller then Deidara was.

The word 'shrimp' immediately came to mind, but as much as he wanted to kick the guy's ass and make him leave again, he wouldn't say or do anything inappropriate.

Sasori finally reached them.

"Deidara. It's been a long time." He said, still no expression on his face. And there Itachi was thinking _he_ was bad with showing emotion.

Itachi felt Deidara letting go of his arm and almost jump on top of Sasori. He was psyched, that was for sure.

Itachi wanted to grab Deidara and just leave again.

"Way too long! How have you been yeah?" Deidara asked as he let go to look at his friend.

"I hear you still haven't gotten rid of that annoying habit in speech." Sasori bluntly said. "I've been doing good. How about you?"

Itachi met eyes with the redhead and he felt like he could feel Sasori had more intentions with Deidara then he was letting on. Itachi just gazed at him, not about to feel intimidating by Sasori's emotionless stare.

Deidara seemed to catch on the staring contest.

"Err, Sasori, this is Itachi. Itachi, Sasori." He said.

The two nodded at each other and Itachi could feel the air getting thick. He wanted to put the redhead back on a plain to where he came from.

Sasori turned away and looked at Deidara again.

"We have a lot to talk about, should we go? You could show me around." He said.

Deidara smiled at that.  
"That would be nice yeah. Itachi, can you drop us off in the city?" Itachi saw Deidara putting up an apologetic look.

Itachi just smiled back.

"Sure. Let's get to the car."

He turned around and started walking, hearing Deidara and Sasori follow him while Deidara was excessively telling Sasori about how it was to move here.

They got to the car and Itachi dropped the two off in the city. He watched them walk away and noticed Sasori looking back and giving him another one of those unreadable glares. Itachi was sure he wasn't just here because he wanted to be Deidara's friend again.

And he was also sure Sasori had picked up on Itachi's feelings at least a little. He wondered how this would turn out. Right now, he was pretty sure he would never be able to be honest with Deidara.

All that mattered was that he was happy.

-.-.-

_Authors note: Oh my God, I threw Sasori into the mix. Why did I do that, I hate him! Anyway, Itachi's a little odd in this chapter I think, but he's the unemotional bastard struggling with emotions. What'you expect._

_I hope you guys liked this chapter. I have some more in store, but I'm waiting for a small writer's blog to move on. Chapter four will be up soon though!_

I also wanna thank everyone who reviewed and such, I appreciate it. Hope everyone will keep doing that!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four: Slipping**

"You could have known he was gay." Itachi sighed. He had invited Sasuke over, since Deidara had been unreachable all week long.

But all Sasuke could do was tell him he was stupid for not realizing Deidara was gay sooner.

"He never said anything." Itachi protested calmly. He knew he would never win this anyway.

"He didn't have to." Sasuke said. "I mean come one. He oozes gay."

"And how would you know that?" Itachi teased with a smirk. Sasuke might not be gay, but he was sensitive about his orientation.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Itachi laughed at his little brother's hiss. So sensitive.

"Nothing Sasuke. Relax." Itachi said, chuckling to himself. Sasuke huffed.

"Well anyway, like I said, he radiates gay."

"You said 'oozes gay'."

"Whatever. With his long blonde hair, tight jeans and the way he acts he's just obviously gay."

"I guess so." Itachi sighed. He had been rather stupid. Now Deidara seemed too occupied with his former boyfriend, had Itachi been sooner, he might have had Deidara by now.

It was too late though.

"You know what you should do?" Sasuke said, stuffing his mouth with some chips. "Fight for him."

"Don't talk with your mouth full Sasuke. Mom will find you a disgrace." A smirk creeped up both boys faces.

"Respond to what I said moron."

"I can't fight for him. He chose."

"You don't know that."

"I think I do Sasuke." Itachi sighed. He saw Sasuke making a face that clearly said 'you're stupid', but luckily he stayed silent.

Itachi didn't feel like being told what to do. He already knew he blew it.

"So why do you like him so much anyway?" Sasuke asked after a while of silence.

Itachi pondered on that.

"I think just because he's a breath of fresh air. He lives."

"Hey I'm breathing."

"Not the same. He does unexpected things, he's outgoing, has a great sense of humor."

"So do I."

"Yeah but you're also my obnoxious little brother, so I would never fall for you." Itachi smirked.

"Oh no, you've hurt me. I was about to confess I'm madly in love with you." Sasuke said and smirked back.

"It's a good thing I know you're joking, 'cause that's gross." The two brothers laughed slightly.

"Whatever. I'm glad you found someone who can loosen you up a little though. You've become a pain in the ass sometimes."

"Thanks Sasuke, very nice." Itachi rolled his eyes slightly, but kept smiling. "I'm glad I met him too."

Although right now it seemed like he was losing Deidara already.

"But say you would've gotten together with him." Sasuke started. "What would you tell dad?"

Itachi frowned at that. He hadn't actually thought of that. His father would definitely not be pleased. Some deaththreats would definitely be thrown his way, even if his father didn't mean it.

He would be ignored for weeks as well, he was sure.

"Haven't thought of that, have you?" Sasuke chuckled lightly. "Dad would kill you."

"I guess he would."

"Mom would be estatic to see you in love for a change. Seriously, get married or something, because she keeps whining about how she just wants what's best for you blah blah blah."

Itachi had to laugh at that.

"I hear you certainly don't support that thought."

"Not true. But I just want you happy, with or without a partner." Sasuke said.

Itachi wanted to thank Sasuke for that, however, his phone started ringing. Without checking his caller-ID, he answered it.

"Uchiha Itachi speaking."

"Itachi? You wanna hang out tomorrow?" It was Deidara.

"I guess so." Itachi said, knowing he didn't sound to exciting.

Even though he was.

"You don't have to you know yeah."

"No it's fine." Itachi could see Sasuke frowning in the corner of his eye.

"Ok well, pick me up after school then yeah?" Itachi smiled. Deidara had seemed hesitant at first, but now sounded excited already.

"What time are you done?" Itachi asked.

"Two. And so are you, I know your schedule."

"I'll pick you up then." Itachi looked at Sasuke, who was wriggling his eyebrow at him.

He quickly looked away again.

"I'll see you tomorrow then yeah!" Deidara said enthusiastically.

"See you tomorrow Deidara." They hung up after some short goodbye's.

"Scored a date with your idiot there?" Sasuke asked, still smirking.

"It's not a date Sasuke."

"You should make it a date then."

"I'll take your advice once I see that girlfriend of yours." Itachi said smirking.

"I might not have a girlfriend, but I still know I've been on a lot more dates then you." Sasuke smirked back at his brother.

"Is that so?"

"Yes that is so. Now be quiet. The movie's starting."

Itachi smiled as he saw his brother stuff more chips in his mouth as he watched the tv. He himself didn't really watch the movie. He was too busy thinking of tomorrow.

He would see Deidara again.

-.-.-

As the day passed by, Itachi couldn't help but be unfocussed in his classes. He had been thinking of Deidara all day.

And then he started thinking of how much he was thinking of the blonde. It both bothered him as excited him.

Even though Deidara was out of limits right now, because surely he would be together with Sasori by now, he was just glad he could spend time with him again.

At the end of his schoolday, Itachi quickly went by his locker, then decided to head to Deidara's. When he saw the back of the blonde, he just smiled.

Then Deidara turned around.

"Itachi yeah! How are you?" He asked happily.

"I am fine, thanks. How have you been doing?"

"Great! Shall we get going yeah?"

Itachi blinked a little. He hadn't really thought of what they should be doing today. He wanted Deidara to have fun, so what should he do now?

He then earned a soft punch in the arm from Deidara.

Frowning, he rubbed it a little.

"I already have it planned yeah. So let's get to your car." Deidara said and then pulled Itachi along with him.

"What are we doing then?" He asked. Of course Deidara knew exactly what he was thinking. That was so typical.

"We're painting your bedroom of course!"

Of course they were painting. How could he not have thought about that? The paint they had bought still stood unused in his bedroom.

As they reached his car and got in, Deidara stopped Itachi from starting the car. Itachi looked at him confused.

"I do need to tell you something first yeah." He said, suddenly sounding nervous.

"Ok. Tell me then."

It stayed silent for a while and Itachi wondered what got Deidara so nervous, that he would not stop fidgeting with his hands.

"I'm back together with Sasori." Deidara then blurted out.

Itachi sighed. Of course they were.

"That's not such a big deal is it? I already figured that." He noticed the slight growl in his voice and hoped Deidara had not heard it.

"Well people aren't usually so accepting. They just don't like gay couples. Especially with such an age gap yeah."

"I told you before I was fine with it Deidara."

"I know, but still yeah." Itachi noticed Deidara's voice getting softer. And he was still fidgeting with his hands.

"Come on, let's go paint my bedroom." He said and smiled at Deidara, who eventually smiled back.

Telling him about Sasori really seemed like a big deal to Deidara.

He obviously really liked that guy. And it stung.

-.-.-

"Haah I'm beat yeah." Itachi watched Deidara drop down on the couch in the livingroom.

They had spend all afternoon painting the bedroom and once again, Itachi had to admit it looked great. Deidara really had an eye for it.

"You did a great job though." Itachi said as he sat down next to the blonde.

He smiled as he saw Deidara trying to wipe some paint of his cheek. They hadn't had a paint fight this time, however Deidara managed to paint himself while busy with the ceiling.

It had been quite endearing.

"I'm glad you like it. This place looks a lot better now yeah." Deidara said smiling.

"It does. Deidara why don't you take a shower while I make us some food?" Itachi asked.

Deidara pouted.

"I wanna help you cook yeah." Itachi shook his head smiling.

"I know, but I'll be a lot faster if I do it alone."

"Are you saying I can't cook?" Deidara asked offended.

"I'm not saying you _can't _cook, just-"

"Just what?" Deidara interrupted.

Itachi frowned when Deidara narrowd his eyes at him. Did he not realize he was a bad cook?

"You're just a little slow at it." Itachi said.

"That's not true, I'm a good cook yeah."

"Deidara, I'm not saying you're not a good cook, you just need some time to get the hang of it."

"But you're thinking I suck at it yeah." Deidara said a little snappy.

Itachi frowned.  
"Well…"

"See! Urgh, I'm going to take that shower, you go ahead and cook then yeah." Deidara stormed off after that, leaving Itachi dumbfounded.

Why was he so angry over not being a great cook?

Itachi sighed and decided to just order in.

As Deidara finally came back from his shower with damp hair, he sat down next to Itachi, who was watching some tv.

"I'm sorry yeah."

"It's ok."

"It's just, Sasori has been bugging me about my cooking all week."

Itachi frowned at that. They had just gotten back together, shouldn't it be the honeymoon weeks now?

Maybe they just jumped right back into the relationship from before.

"I really tried learning how to cook, because he bothered me about it. But I'm just not good at it yeah."

"Well, maybe I can teach you."

"Really? You'd do that?" Deidara asked, beaming again. "Because you taught me to make pancakes too, so if you'd teach me, then I'm sure I'll get the hang of it in no time yeah."

"I'll be glad to teach you Deidara." Itachi smiled at the blonde next to him, who smiled back wholeheartedly.

Then Deidara groaned a little and rubbed his foot. The foot with the funny tap.

"You know, you never really told me what happened to your foot." Itachi said.

To be honest, he barely knew anything about Deidara.

"It was an accident. Nothing spectacular." Deidara said and smiled. This time though, Itachi wasn't sure if that smile was as meaningful as it had been before.

"What happened?"

"Car accident. I was twelve yeah."

"Who was driving?"

"I was." Apparently the face Itachi made was hilarious, because Deidara started laughing when he saw it.

Itachi was sure he looked ridiculous.

"You were twelve." He said.

"I know. That's probably why I got into the accident yeah."

Itachi kept silent and just looked at Deidara as if he was crazy.

Which he was. Definitely.

"Come on! A little joyride never killed anyone." Deidara said, still laughing.

"Yes. Yes it has." Itachi said, not knowing why someone would try something so dangerous in the first place.

"Whatever, it didn't kill _me_ yeah." The blonde shrugged it off and then sighed. "At least I was smart enough to put a pillow on my seat, so I could see where I was going."

"Obviously that pillow wasn't high enough."

"Yeah, didn't see the car coming from my right. And I missed the red light as well. Oops." Deidara said innocently, but his eyes were shimmering.

Itachi remembered why he fell in love with this guy again. Deidara was not only fun to be with and outgoing.

He was stunning.

"What? Do I have something on my face yeah?" Deidara snapped Itachi out of his thoughts. Had he been staring?

"No. No your face is great. Fine. I mean fine." Itachi almost stuttered on his words. That barely ever happened. Actually it never happened.

Itachi just hoped Deidara didn't hear that little mess up.

"Ok good. I thought I hadn't cleaned myself up right." Deidara said, rubbing his nose.

The two kept quiet until Itachi decided he wanted to know more about Deidara. He wanted to know all about him.

"So, why did you move here?"

Deidara looked a little surprised.

"Oh uhm, I just thought I'd have more chances here to be what I wanna be yeah."

The blonde started smiling again.

"And what do you wanna be?"

"Something artistic!" Deidara exclaimed happily.

Itachi laughed slightly.

"Of course you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well I can't imagine you doing anything that isn't creative." Itachi said.

"I think everyone should be a little more creative yeah. That should be my master plan, making everyone more creative."

"Have you started with me?"

Deidara laughed.

"Yes, you're my first apprentice. Next up is your little brother. He has about as much artistic talent as a monkey's butt yeah."

"That's not very nice." Itachi said, but chuckled.

"Let me guess, he still draws in stickman style yeah."

"Honestly?" Itachi asked and Deidara nodded fiercly. "He does."

Deidara started laughing loudly now and Itachi couldn't help but laugh as well.

"He had an art assignment a few weeks ago and everybody thought he had drawn some kind of twisted elephant."

"What did he draw!?" Deidara asked, still laughing, but looking at Itachi anxiously.

"A portrait of his friend Kiba." Deidara started laughing again.

"They had to do drawings on each other." Itachi chuckled. "Luckily Kiba has a good sense of humor."

"That's so funny yeah." Deidara laughed.

"Sasuke was pissed. It's such a shame he can't do art, 'cause he's so creative with other subjects."

"I'm sure he is." Deidara said and looked at Itachi. "I'm hungry yeah."

It was Itachi's turn to laugh now.

"Does making fun of my brother make you hungry?" He asked smirking.

"Very much so." Deidara answered smiling broadly.

"I'm sure the food will be here soon."

"You ordered in?" Deidara asked surprised. His eyes widened and Itachi couldn't help but get lost in those big blue orbs again.

Luckily he snapped out of it before Deidara noticed.

"Yeah, didn't feel like cooking after your outburst." Itachi said. Deidara frowned and then looked sad.

"Bummer, I wanted to eat your food yeah." He replied. "You're a great cook."

Itachi smiled at Deidara and was about to thank him when Deidara's phone started ringing. Deidara looked at the screen and smiled slightly.

Itachi could feel his stomach knot. That was definitely Sasori texting.

Deidara looked up from his phone, his face not as happy as it was a few seconds ago.

"Sasori's asking me to come home and have dinner with him." The blonde said a little hesitant.

Itachi stayed silent for a while. He did not want Deidara to go home to that redhead shrimp, but honestly, what did he have to stop the guy.

"Well it's your decision. If you wanna go, you can go." Itachi really tried to be sincere, but he knew he sounded anything but.

He could see from the look on Deidara's face that he thought the same.

"I'm really sorry, honestly yeah." Deidara looked so distraught, it made Itachi feel the same way.

Itachi was also mad at the annoying man that was taking his friend away from him. And even a little at the blonde sitting in front of him.

Itachi shook his head and faked a smile.

Deidara did the same.

"I'll make it up to you, I promise." He got up and grabbed his bag.

Itachi stood up as well.

"I'll show you out." He said and Deidara nodded.

Neither of them seemed eager to go their separate ways and Itachi couldn't put his finger on the tension that hung in the air.

All he knew was that Deidara would slowly slip away if he didn't do something about it.

-.-.-

_Author's Notes: Thought I'd pick up this story again, but no garantees as to whether or not I will finish this._

I don't know what the hell I'm doing with this chapter, but whatever. The next one will be more interesting.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five: Suspicions**

It had been three days since Itachi had seen or spoken to Deidara. He had texted him three times and called him twice, but there had been no response.

Itachi had enough of it.

So now he was walking through the school, heading to a certain person's locker. He, just like Deidara, had remembered the other's schedule and since neither of them had class for at least three hours, he was taking Deidara out for lunch.

He spotted his object of affection and stopped next to him.

"Deidara." He said, knowing his voice sounded stern and monotone. He didn't want to take no for an answer.

Deidara turned to him and that was when Itachi got a little shocked.

Deidara looked like he hadn't slept in days. His hair wasn't shining like it used to and his face wore no smile.

Itachi lost his will to stay calm and composed.

"What's wrong?"

Deidara sighed, seemingly on the verge of tears but pulled himself back together.

"Sasori and I have been fighting for days. I'm just tired."

Itachi frowned. Fighting for days? He was wondering if Sasori and Deidara would even work out.

Sasori sure didn't bring out the best in Deidara. If any, he brought out the worst.

"What were you fighting about?" Itachi asked.

"Just stuff." Deidara sighed again and closed his locker, before looking at Itachi patiently. Or tired, it could have been both.

"Well, I was already planning on taking you out for lunch in between classes, so let's go."

Deidara frowned and sighed and then frowned again.

"There's something I gotta tell you first yeah." He said.

It was Itachi's turn to frown this time. He waited for the continuation.

"Sasori and I weren't fighting about random stuff yeah." Deidara sighed once more. Itachi wondered what he was gonna say.

He wasn't quite prepared for what Deidara said next.

"We were fighting about you."

-.-.-

Itachi was having trouble registering what Deidara had just told him a few seconds ago.  
He was staring at the blonde a little dumbfounded.

All Deidara could do was look Itachi straight in the eye.

"I'm not following." Itachi said confused.

Deidara took a deep breath, before he started talking again.

"That day when I was at your place and he called me home. Turns out he just didn't want me to be alone with you."

Deidara looked at Itachi and seemed really upset. Itachi didn't know what to say. Or what to think.

Deidara continued.

"He thinks you like me."

"I do." Itachi said, not thinking things over like he usually did.

"No I mean _like_ like me." Deidara looked at Itachi intently, apparently hoping he would get it.

Itachi didn't, so Deidara rolled his eyes.

"Sasori has this weird idea that you're in love with me."

Neither said anything for a full minute, Itachi was sure of that. He felt like he was struck by lightning.

Because Sasori was so right.

What should he say now? Yes Deidara, your _boyfriend_ is right, I did fall in love with you. Go out with me?

Itachi had a feeling that wouldn't go over well.

So he said the only thing he could think of.

"You're my friend. That's all."

It was killing him and Itachi thought he saw disappointment on his friend's face. But it was gone a second later and Deidara smiled a little.

"I know. Sasori seems to think otherwise. He doesn't want me to hang out with you anymore."

His heart was beating rapidly and Itachi was sure this was the last time he would talk to Deidara like this.

"I'm not going to listen to him, I never have. You are my friend and I like spending time with you so I won't stop."

Itachi let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and smiled sincerely at Deidara.

He would rather have him as just a friend, then not at all.

"I wouldn't want to come between you and… _him_." Itachi said, hoping Deidara didn't notice the venom in his voice.

"If Sasori wants to be with me, he'll accept that you're my friend yeah." Deidara answered determined.

He then smiled at Itachi and grabbed his arm.

"Now treat me to that lunch, 'cause I am starving."

Itachi had to smile at that goofy grin on Deidara's face. At least he was happy.

Itachi felt like he was falling. Hard.

"So what you're saying is that the blonde's boyfriend is onto you?"

Itachi and Sasuke were eating dinner. Itachi had told his younger brother about what happened the other day with Deidara.

Itachi could tell Sasuke thought he hadn't tried hard enough.

But really, what could he do?

"I guess so."

"And you said it wasn't true?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow as Itachi nodded.

"Why?" He asked.

"I don't stand a chance against an ex. I haven't known Deidara for long." Itachi said, shrugging slightly.

"Bullshit."

"Watch your tongue."

"Oh come on Itachi." Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. "You could've at least tried. If you ask me, that Sasori guy isn't too good for Deidara. What kind of boyfriend forbids you to hang out with your friends?"

"He is right though, I do like Deidara."

Sasori had a reason to not want him around Deidara. Even though Itachi was pretty sure Deidara wasn't into him like that.

"It's not like you would do anything."

"Sasori doesn't know that."

Sasuke sighed and stuffed more food in his mouth. He was about to talk with his mouth full but Itachi stopped him.

His little brother had no manners.

"Let's change the subject Sasuke." Itachi said. "How have you been?" He realized that all they had talked about lately, was Deidara.

Sasuke shrugged.

"I don't know."

Itachi frowned. Sasuke seemed upset about something.

"You don't know?" He asked, knowing Sasuke would become agitated if he pushed things too much.

Playing dumb was the better option.

"Things are fine." Sasuke stayed silent for a while, so did Itachi.

"Dad's been on my case." Sasuke continued. Itachi could hear the bitterness in his voice.

"I'm sure he's doing it for your own good." Itachi knew that would drive Sasuke crazy, but he wouldn't bash his father.

He got an angry glare nonetheless.

"Don't give me that crap." Sasuke spat. "He was mad because I was five minutes late. _Five minutes._"

"Are you sure it was just five minutes?"

Another glare, even angrier this time.

"Thanks Itachi." Sasuke was pissed. Itachi could tell 'cause he left the table with food still on his plate. Sasuke rarely lost his appetite.

"Sorry." Itachi said, hoping his brother would sit back down.

Sasuke glared at him for a few seconds before sitting down again.

He stayed quiet though.

Itachi sighed. "Honestly Sasuke, I don't think dad would be mad at you just for that." He tried again.

Yet another glare, but at least Sasuke responded this time.

"You're one to talk. Dad practically scared you out of the house."

Not too nice a response sadly.

"Dad and I just couldn't meet eye to eye."

"And neither do me and dad. I've had more trouble with him then you have, yet I'm not allowed to go anywhere, let alone live on my own."

"You're sixteen, of course you can't live on your own." Itachi said frowning.

He didn't know Sasuke had wanted to leave. He could imagine, seeing how their father had gotten so demanding he himself had to move out before things got out of hand.

"I honestly don't know why you and mom can't stop defending the man." Sasuke hissed.

Itachi had wanted to tell him that no matter what, he was still their father, but the doorbell rang and Itachi got up.

As he walked to the door, he wondered who it was, but since his front door was part glass, he could see the blond hair on the other side.

He opened the door.

"Deidara. What brings you here?" He asked.

"Thought I'd stop by yeah." The blonde replied smiling.

"Come in then." Itachi stepped out of the way to let Deidara in, but instead was shoved to the side, as was Deidara.

Sasuke walked out without saying anything and Itachi knew he was brooding about their conversation.

"Sasuke." He raised his voice slightly, but it was futile he knew.

"What got up his ass?" Deidara asked, slightly offended as he stepped in.

"Oh trouble with our father." Itachi closed the door and as they entered the living room, Itachi decided to clear the table.

Which still had plenty of food left. Sasuke was really angry. He should call him later and apologize.

Itachi looked up and saw Deidara look at him questionably.

"What?" Itachi asked the blonde, who sat down on the couch, but turned around to look at him.

"Just wondering what your family is like yeah. I mean you live on your own, but you could've lived with your parents right?"

Itachi nodded.

"My father and I couldn't agree on anything. He's really hotheaded and I'm cold you could say."

"You're not that cold to me." Deidara said smiling.

Itachi really didn't know what to do with that and stayed quiet as he looked at Deidara.

Who seemed to notice his awkwardness and continued the conversation.

"Did your father and you fight yeah?"

"Not physically." Itachi shook his head. "But our fights could be very heated. The biggest issue was me not wanting to become a cop like him."

"Why not though? You could be great at that."

"I'm not that much of a people person. Besides, I want to become a landscape architect."

This seemed to shock Deidara greatly, as his eyes grew wide.

Luckily, so did his smile.

"Really? That's a great choice yeah."

Itachi chuckled. Of course Deidara would think that. It was something that was creative.

"I'm glad you approve."

"It's really good to have a goal in life yeah. I don't."

Itachi sat down next to Deidara.

"That's fine too. You can do whatever you like for now."

"I know, great right?" Deidara was smiling so brightly, Itachi was started to find it suspicious.

He frowned.

"You seem happy."

Deidara fidgeted some with his hair and then grinned.

"That's.. nothing really."

Itachi frowned even more now.

"Ok.." He said doubtful.

Deidara just sat there, grinning some more before he suddenly blurted out something Itachi had not expected.

"Sasori and I had sex yeah."

Itachi chocked on the air and started coughing. That was neither something he was expecting, nor something he wanted to hear.

"I'm sorry. It's just, since you're my friend I thought I could maybe talk to you about it yeah."

Itachi held his cough back and took a sip of water. When he looked up he saw Deidara's apologetic face and he felt kind of bad.

Was he a bad friend for not wanting to hear this?

"I just really wanted to talk to somebody about this yeah." Deidara softly said.

"It's ok." Itachi quickly told the blonde. "You can tell me."

He would just have to swallow it and try to not get angry.

Even though he really already was.

"You won't be bothered by it? I know that gay sex might not be a subject you would want to hear about."

Deidara's spirits seemed to be uplifted a little again.

"Really, go ahead." Itachi said. Deidara smiled.

Itachi wasn't prepared for the stories about Deidara and Sasori's steamy make out session, or the fact that Deidara had been really.. turned on.

He hadn't really paid attention when Deidara told him about all the things they had done together leading up to the deed, because he did not want to hear that.

What bothered him a lot though, was the fact that Deidara briefly mentioned that he only had three other bedpartners and that this was definitely not the first time with Sasori, only the first since they met up again.

Itachi definitely wasn't gonna tell him that he was still a virgin.

Weeks had gone by and Itachi and Deidara had met up more often then less.

From what Itachi heard from Deidara, Sasori was still pissed at the idea and Itachi couldn't help but feel slightly smug about it.

Even though Uchiha Itachi never really felt smug about anything.

Itachi and Deidara had gotten to know each other better and better. For instance, Itachi now knew that Deidara had somewhat of a rough childhood, growing up poor and, as far as Deidara had spoken about it, pretty uncaring parents.

He also knew Deidara had met Sasori at an art gallery, where they had argued about art but hit it off.

Sasori even took Deidara under his wing, and Itachi had to admit that he was thankful for it.

Had Sasori not done it, Deidara would not have been the amazing guy he was now.

In return Itachi had shared more of his past with his father, telling him about a lot of the arguments.

He had also started to open up more about his love life.

His non excisting love life that is. Deidara now knew he had never had a girlfriend, nor a boyfriend even though Deidara somehow just assumed that Itachi was into girls.

Itachi believed they were as close as could be without being lovers.

"So are we going over to your place today after school yeah?" The blonde walking next to Itachi asked.

"Of course, I was going to educate you in history, since you told me you were on the verge of failing that."

"I'm not gonna fail history but whatever yeah." Deidara said smirking.

The two of them casually walked out of the school, onto schoolgrounds.

As they approached Itachi's car, where Sasuke was waiting, Itachi as Itachi frowned.

Wasn't that…?

"What's Sasori doing here?" Deidara beat him to the punch as the three of them met.

"Deidara." Sasori said. He only acknowledged Itachi with a suspiscious look on his face before turning to Deidara again.

Itachi decided to play it cool.

"Sasori, nice to see you again." He said.

"What are you doing here yeah?"

"I came to pick you up. We're going home."

Itachi frowned.

"What? Why?" Deidara said offended. "I'm going over to Itachi's yeah."

Deidara was so stubborn, Itachi thought to himself.

"Not today." Was all Sasori replied.

"Sasori honestly, I'm going."

Deidara moved past Sasori and started walking, only to have Sasori grab him by the arm and pull him back.

Itachi decided to stay out of it when he saw how angry Deidara looked.

"Let go!" He said loudly.

"No Deidara, I say we go home so we go home."

Sasori actually managed to drag Deidara for about 3 feet, before Deidara yanked himself loose.

"You are not my boss Sasori yeah." Deidara snapped. "I'm not fifteen anymore."

"You sure as hell still act like you are." Sasori calmly said back, but the look on his face betrayed his anger.

Itachi looked up to Sasuke, who was looking at him with a questionable face.

Also a look of impatience, but Itachi decided to ignore that for now.

"Please calm down, both of you." Itachi tried, but neither one of the two were listening.

"Stop treating me like you did years ago? We changed. At least I did yeah."

Deidara was fuming, his face was red, wether that was from embarrassment or anger, Itachi couldn't tell.

"Well, we do not need to discuss this in front of _him_. So let's just go home." Sasori said, but he said it through gritted teeth.

"No."

Deidara was really standing his ground.

Itachi also hadn't missed the venom in Sasori's voice when he addressed him.

"Deidara I swear if you're not coming with me." Sasori threatened.

Itachi narrowed his eyes a little, not quite understanding how the two could be in a relationship like this.

He might not have been in a relationship before, but he knew he would never treat Deidara like that.

Deidara suddenly pulled Sasori away by his arm and went far enough so that Itachi and Sasuke couldn't hear their argument.

"What's up with that?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.

Itachi shrugged as he watched Deidara's wild movements, obviously raising his voice at Sasori.

Who in return looked angry and seemed to be arguing back quite venomly.

"You should save him from such a disaster relationship." Sasuke said. "Open the car."

Itachi shook his head and did as he was told. He heard Sasuke get in the car.

Deidara and Sasori's argument lasted a few minutes longer, then Deidara came storming back, obviously still angry.

He grabbed his bag, which he had dropped to the ground earlier and turned to Itachi.

"I'm sorry, but the massive asshole refuses to let me go anywhere but home yeah."

Itachi was taken a little bit aback by the fact that Deidara spoke so violently.

"It's ok Dei, he's displeased so you should go." Itachi'd rather throw Deidara over his shoulder and take him with, but that would look kinda odd.

"I'll make it up to you, promise." Deidara said and Itachi nodded.

The blonde then turned, huffed and walked over to Sasori again. The two walked away, clearly still arguing over the decision.

Itachi sighed and got in the car.

"Finally." Sasuke said, sitting with his feet on the … board.

Itachi gave him a look and Sasuke removed his feet, rolling his eyes in the process.

"So. The redhead won the argument?"

"Unfortunately yes." Itachi answered as he started the car and drove out of the parking lot.

"I don't know about you, but that whole ordeal made me feel sorry for the blonde." Sasuke said.

"I think I'll call him later today to ask how he's doing." Itachi contemplated that idea. Would it be wise?

After all, this whole fight probably started because of him.

"You should. That redhead doesn't have the right."

Itachi was surprised to hear Sasuke be so defensive of Deidara.

It made him realize that even Sasuke, who wasn't Deidara's biggest supporter, found this wasn't ok.

Itachi suddenly felt obliged to do something.

Tonight, he would go over to Deidara's one way or another and talk this over.

With Sasori.

-.-.-

_Authors note: Just because I think this is not the most interesting chapter either, chapter six is up as well!  
Enjoy!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six: Suspicions confirmed  
**  
Itachi was driving towards what he believed was Deidara's house.

After he had decided to clear the air with Sasori, he realized he had no clue where Deidara lived.

They had always gone to his place, instead of the blonde's. Itachi had not realized this before, but now that he wanted to talk to Sasori, he once again found out there were things about Deidara he just didn't know.

Eventually he found out by calling the school and telling them Deidara had left a really important assignment at his place and he needed to bring it over.

Being the head of his class, he was granted such things easily, because who would not believe Itachi.

He himself was stunned at first at how easily had lied, but it was for a good cause.

Itachi eventually ended up at a pretty shabby looking apartment building. He hadn't expected Deidara to live in a mansion, but this was a little shocking.

It was also in one of the worst placed in the entire city.

Itachi suddenly felt glad that Sasori had decided to move in, because the idea of having Deidara here alone was quite frightening.

Itachi got out of his car, feeling eyes on him from the people smoking outside the building.

He ignored them and got inside, going up the stairs until he was at apartment 14b.

He rang the doorbell.

At first he got no answer, so he rang the doorbell again.

Then, after a little waiting the door opened and Itachi came face to face with a surprised looking Deidara.

"W-what are you doing here yeah?" He asked, completely taken aback.

"I came to talk." Itachi said, studying Deidara's movements.

The blonde was nervous, Itachi could tell by the way he was fidgeting with his hair and shifting on his feet.

"Ok." Deidara said. He doubted but then opened the door so Itachi could come in.

Itachi was once again slightly shocked. Deidara's home was a studio and a small one at that.

Their was a very small kitchen, a couch and an old tv and a bed. He could see a door to what he presumed was the bathroom, but that was pretty much it.

He did notice the easel in the corner, with a pretty magnificent painting. A realistic one, something Itachi thought Deidara didn't create.

"I'm sorry, we didn't clean up yeah." Deidara said apologetic, in the mean time picking up some things and putting them away.

"I'm sorry I came over unannounced." Itachi told Deidara, suddenly feeling guilty he overwhelmed the younger boy like this.

Deidara shook his head.

"It's fine." He said. "How did you figure out where I live anyway?"

Itachi was about to answer, but at that moment, Sasori showed up from the bathroom.

He stared at Itachi for a second, then glared at Deidara before moving towards the two.

"What is _he_ doing here?"

Itachi could tell they were done with trying to be polite around each other, because the animosity was clear in the redhead's voice.

Before Deidara could answer, Itachi spoke.

"I'm sorry for coming over so suddenly, but I want to talk to you Sasori."

It was better to just get this over with.

Itachi saw Deidara becoming completely confused and rather panicky from that statement.

Sasori looked at Itachi suspecting, but then nodded his head.

"We'll be outside for a while Dei." Sasori told the blonde, who just nodded but seemed rather worried.

The two older male stepped outside.

Sasori crossed his eyes and waited. Itachi took a breath.

'Here goes nothing.' He thought to himself.

"I'm in love with Deidara." Itachi said. Sasori was clearly shocked by that statement, but Itachi continued.

"But that doesn't matter, because he is in love with you." Itachi kept his eyes on the smaller guy.

"Deidara has no idea either, I just want to be his friend. I promise I would never do anything to him or anything to break up your relationship. He doesn't like me that way."

Sasori eyed him and crooked his head.

"Continue." He said. Itachi nodded. Apparently this worked, because Sasori seemed less angry.

"If you're ok with me spending time with him, I think he'd be happier. He just wants a friend."

Sasori stayed silent for a while, then sighed.

"Alright." He said, much to Itachi's surprise. He had expected a fight. "He's a good kid, I guess he deserves his own life as well."

Sasori was very mature, more mature then Itachi had thought. It also seemed he had Deidara's best interests in mind.

"But if you so much as touch him I'll kick your ass."

Itachi chuckled. Ok, maybe not _that_ mature.

"Don't worry about it. I just want Deidara to be happy."

The two nodded at each other and even though Itachi felt a knot in his stomach because he pretty much ruined any chance he might have had with Deidara, not that that was much, he was happy that Sasori and him had cleared the air.

So easily at that too.

They walked back to Deidara's apartment and Sasori went back inside. Deidara got in the dooropening, looking like a nervous wreck.

"What did you say to him? You didn't fight yeah? Oh god please tell me he didn't threaten you or anything."

"You're free to go with Itachi whenever you like Dei." Sasori was suddenly standing behind Deidara, who got a scare from the sudden statement.

"As long as you don't forget he's waiting for you here at home." Itachi said and smiled.

Deidara had never looked so confused before and Itachi found it rather hilarious. If he'd had a bigger imagination, he would have seen question marks appear near Deidara's head.

"I'm confused yeah." Deidara said, looking from Sasori to Itachi with a suspicious look on his face.

Sasori patted Deidara on the back and then went inside, turning on the tv.

Deidara frowned, then turned to Itachi.

"What did you do to him?" He whispered.

Itachi chuckled.

"Nothing much. Go back inside and enjoy your evening."

He then walked away, leaving a very confused Deidara behind.

Itachi was sitting at his dinner table, together with Deidara, Sasuke and Sasuke's friend Neji.

Exams were coming up, so the four of them were now studying.

Itachi had offered to help Deidara study, especially since he had learned the blonde was failing biology, history and mathematics.

Deidara had protested at first, but agreed when Itachi had pretended he would tutor his little brother as well.

That had irritated Sasuke, because he was cocky and said he didn't need any help.

Sasuke had only agreed when Neji told him he would come too.

So that brought the four to sit at Itachi's table, a menace of books on the table.

"Honestly, why do I need to know who did what in what year yeah." Deidara said bored, his head resting on his hand.

Itachi smiled.

"It's important to learn about the past so we can do things better in the future."

"I already know what I wanna do in the future and king Henry IV has got nothing to do with it yeah."

Itachi chuckled at that, then pointed at Deidara's book.

"Just read that chapter." He said, earning an annoyed look from the blonde.

"And when I'm done?"

"You read it again, so you will remember." Itachi focused his attention to his own book now as he heard Deidara growl, but knew he was reading anyway.

By now, Deidara had biology down, Itachi was sure he would ace that test. Mathematics was halfway through, but Deidara had nearly gone crazy and demanded they do something else.

He had been mad when Itachi had suggested to get started on history since it was 'five days away', but agreed when Itachi said he would make him a great lunch afterwards.

As Itachi scanned his own history book, he realized he already studied this before and looked at the side.

Sasuke and Neji were studying for the same exam, since Sasuke had taken up advanced mathematics a year early.

Their dad's idea, because he thought Sasuke needed a challenge.

Itachi was glad Sasuke was doing well in school, his dad could pressure the both of them so hard, it wouldn't have surprised Itachi if his little brother had decided to rebel.

That would've been a disaster.

"It's not that hard. Look." Sasuke's long haired brunette friend said and explained the formula's to Sasuke.

It was also good Sasuke had such a reliable friend.

Had it not been for Neji, Itachi was sure Sasuke would refuse to do anything according to law.

He had been caught for shoplifting and setting things on fire before, but after having befriended Neji, that had all stopped.

Itachi was grateful for that.

Sasuke looked up and saw Itachi looking. Raising an eyebrow, he asked:

"What are you staring at? You're looking the wrong way." Nodding his head at the blonde sitting across from Itachi.

Itachi saw that smug look on Sasuke's face but it didn't last long as Neji gave Sasuke a soft punch.

"Pay attention." The brunette said and Sasuke apologized irritably.

Itachi smiled at that and then focused on Deidara again, who was still reading and mumbling something.

He could see Deidara unfocusing on the subject at hand. They had been studying for hours now, Itachi figured they could use a break.

He leaned over the table and closed the blonde's book with a smile.

Deidara looked up confused.

"What now yeah?" He asked.

"How about that lunch?" Itachi suggested, lifting Deidara's spirit.

The blonde got up enthusiastic and cheered, before heading over to the kitchen.

Itachi chuckled, then turned to the two boys still at the table.

"Should I prepare lunch for you too?"

"Hell yeah, I'm starving." Sasuke said, leaning back in his chair, obviously done with studying (but earning a glare from Neji, who clearly wasn't).

"All right. Neji?"

"That'd be nice Itachi, thank you." Polite as ever. Itachi swore he had never heard Neji speak anything but proper.

Such a weird couple of friends those two were.

Itachi nodded and then headed into the kitchen, where Deidara was already looking in the fridge for some food.

As they had decided on making omelets with several ingredients, Itachi began cooking.

"So what's up with your brother and his _friend_ yeah?" Deidara said, mimicking the …marks with his fingers at the word friend.

Itachi looked at him, not understanding what Deidara meant by that.

Deidara was looking at the two boys from the kitchen, then turned to Itachi again.

"Come on, you can't convince me they're just friends." The blonde said and now looked at the ingredients Itachi put in the pan.

"They are." Itachi answered plainly.

"But look at them. They're sitting so close, laughing, teasing. Obviously they're flirting with each other. Look yeah."

Deidara dragged Itachi to the end of the kitchen and pointed at the two.

Itachi had to admit they were awfully close and glancing at each other.

But Sasuke had told him so many times he was traight, he went out on dates too, that Itachi was pretty convinced Sasuke told the truth.

He himself had wondered about the two friends as well before, but they had been friends for a long time and nothing seemed to change.

"Not everyone's gay Dei." Itachi teased and went back to the stove.

Deidara gave a last glance to the other two boys, then stood next to Itachi, one hand on the counter, the other on his hip.

He smirked.

"I'm pretty sure you're not, otherwise you'd never had been able to resist me yeah."

So cocky the blonde was.

And so right too.

"Sure." Itachi shook his head chuckling and the two continued cooking.

"So whatever happened to that girl you were into then?" Deidara asked, breaking the silence.

Itachi mauled his brains over what to answer. He could tell him the truth now, but that was a no go really.

He could also tell Deidara that the _girl_ had found someone else or that she just didn't feel the same way.

Instead, he settled for another option.

"We weren't compatible. I'm over it." He had no idea why he said that, because it surely wasn't true.

Maybe he said it because he wanted to get over it. He wanted to get over the hurt every time he looked or even thought of Deidara and Sasori together.

"Oh. Well. Too bad yeah." Deidara said.

Itachi frowned, because Deidara seemed so insincere in that moment.

"Well anyway, is that omelet done already?" Deidara leaned over the pan and Itachi pushed him back smirking slightly.

"Pretty much." The two of them gathered four plates and sets of cutlery before getting back to the dining area.

Deidara hit Itachi in the elbow as Sasuke and Neji suspiscously sat further apart when the two entered and Itachi rolled his eyes smiling.

"Just saying yeah." Deidara muttered proudly, before sitting down at the table, happily throwing books of the table.

The four of them sat down for lunch, chatted some and ate.

Itachi thought they were really happy times and hoped he could enjoy these more in the future.

For now, being friends with Deidara was fine, because he had to face it, Deidara had single handedly made his life so much brighter.

Deidara was sitting on his bed, relaxing after the final day of exams was over.

Itachi had really helped him out with his studying, he just knew he had nailed most of them.  
Maybe not history because it was simply too boring, but the rest had been fairly easy.

The blonde was now waiting for his boyfriend to come home, so that they could celebrate with a special made treat.

Deidara was very proud of the pavlova he had managed to create (all thanks to some help from Itachi of course) and could barely wait.

As Deidara waited he drew random doodles in a sketchbook. About half an hour into sketching, the door opened and Deidara smiled.

The redhead pulled of his coat and shoes, then walked over to the bed, kissing Deidara on the mouth.

"Welcome home yeah." Deidara said as he put the sketchbook away.

Sasori merely looked at him.

"How did math go?" He asked as he sat down on a chair.

"Well I think. Itachi really helped out." Deidara responded happily, then sat down on Sasori's lap.

Sasori sighed softly.

"So you and Itachi are doing well?" He asked.

Deidara nodded.

"Sure we do yeah."

"He didn't do anything to you?"

Deidara frowned. What the hell was that about? Sasori was looking rather weird too.

What did he have to hide?

"I'm not following yeah." Deidara said, taking a bit more distance from his boyfriend. What could Itachi possibly do to him?

"Nothing." Sasori said, making Deidara frown even more.

Sasori pushed Deidara of his lap gently and then proceeded to the kitchen, leaving Deidara confused.

The blonde sat on his bed, wondering what that was all about, then shrugged and proceeded doodling in his sketchbook.

He didn't hear Sasori getting back and didn't notice him sitting down on the bed until his sketchbook was pulled out of his hands.

"Hey!" Deidara protested, but when he looked at Sasori, he was met with a very angry face.

Now Deidara was really confused. Sasori was mad often, but normally Deidara could see that it was his own fault or what the cause was at least.

Now it made no sense at all.

"What yeah?" Deidara asked carefully. Maybe Sasori had a rough day at work and just needed someone to talk to.

But that seemed so trivial and his redheaded boyfriend looked pissed.

"Do you even see what you're drawing all the time?" Sasori asked, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"Huh? They're just doodles." Deidara answered confused. He looked at his own sketches. Really they were nothing more.

"A lot of hearts, black cats, black dogs, black everything, the letter _I_."

Deidara shook his head, not getting what Sasori was getting at, or why he pronounced that letter I with such venom.

"You're even more stupid then I thought." Sasori mumbled as he threw the sketchbook back at Deidara.

Deidara caught it and then stood up angrily. That always pissed him off. Sasori would call him stupid all the time and yeah maybe sometimes he was, but it still annoyed him to no end.

"That's not fair yeah. You're being criptic." He spat at Sasori.

He knew they were going to argue again, but whatever. Sasori had it coming for that remark.

"I'm not. You're the one always talking about Itachi and even drawing him in _every_ sketch you make." Sasori argued back, taking Deidara by surprise.

He wanted to say something, but Sasori wasn't done.

"Ever since I told you you could spend time with that guy, you've been talking about him nonstop. Everything's about him. And those drawings, god I hate those drawings."

Deidara was confused now, and angry. Very angry.

"My drawings have nothing to do with Itachi yeah! And I talk about him because I spend a lot of time with him!"

"Exactly, you spend all your time with him then come home and talk about him to me!" Sasori yelled back.

Rarely raising his voice, Deidara slightly crinched, but he wouldn't back down.

"What is your obsession with me and Itachi, I told you we're just friends! I'm not into him and he's not into me!"

How many times had he said this before? It hurt him to have to repeat this over and over.

Even if part of it wasn't true.

"But he _is_ into you!" Sasori yelled back, the both of them now standing across from each other.

Deidara's eyes widened for a second, then he narrowed them again.

"What the hell Sasori, we've been over this. He does not yeah."

"He does. Trust me, he told me himself."

Their fight seemed to be cooling down suddenly, but this confused Deidara.

"He did not, stop making things up." He said, but didn't sound really convinced. Sasori never lied.

"Tell me that if he did say that, it wouldn't matter." Sasori said, dead serious, Deidara could tell.

However, Deidara didn't know if he could say that.

Because what if Itachi had said that? What if the ravenhaired liked him like that? What would he do then?

Deidara looked at the floor, biting his lip in thought.

"I thought so. Honestly Dei, you need to figure this out."

"I love you yeah." Deidara said in panic, looking at Sasori.

"I know and I love you too. Maybe we just need to work on this."

Deidara sighed. Honestly, he knew Sasori wouldn't just up and leave him. He'd stay no matter what.

Which only made Deidara feel worse, because that meant that if their relationship won't work, he'd be the one to break it.

He'd be the bad guy.

"We'll get through it." Sasori sighed. "Right now I'm going out for a walk."

Deidara nodded and saw Sasori out the door.

When Sasori was gone, the blonde sat down on the bed, then sighed and put his hands in his head.

This was messed up. He should be thinking about how to fix this and make his relationship better. How he and Sasori could work on this and get over their problems.

Instead all he could think about was Itachi and if what Sasori said was true.

He really had a lot of thinking to do.

-.-.-

_Authors note: So I thought a little chapter with minor thoughts of Deidara in it would be nice. And also I needed it for the story._


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven: Confess**

Itachi was sitting in his car, waiting for his little brother to grab all his stuff and get in.

It was the day of their annual one week camp their school organized and Itachi had offered Sasuke a ride knowing how he hated the bus.

Had Itachi known Sasuke was gonna take so much time this morning, he would've never suggested it.

As he was waiting, he was texting with Deidara. The blonde had seemed a little absent the previous weeks.

Itachi had asked him what was going on and Deidara had become rather nervous. Itachi found it odd, especially since it seemed like Deidara was avoiding him from time to time.

Like today. Itachi had also offered Deidara a ride to camp, but the blonde had refused with the excuse that he wanted to get the 'full experience'.

Deidara just didn't strike him as the type that wanted to do what everyone else was doing and was rather lazy so he could've saved himself some trouble.

However, Itachi let it slide because at least the blonde was keeping in touch and he didn't wanna push Deidara into anything he didn't want to share.

He would tell him when the time was right. Itachi figured he was patient like that.

Which brought him back to why he was sitting here texting the blonde to tell the teachers he would be late.

Sasuke was finally coming out of the house, trying to get away from their mother who was probably giving him the lecture they always got when they went away for more than a day.

Sasuke and his mother made it to the car as Itachi exited to greet them.

"Hello mother. Sasuke." He said as he got a kiss from his mother on the cheek.

"Hi honey. Make sure Sasuke eats well and showers properly and that he doesn't drink or do anything else irresponsible." Their mother said, earning a groan from Sasuke and a muttered 'I'm not a baby.'.

Itachi chuckled and nodded.

"Don't worry mom, we'll be fine." Ever since Sasuke had gone through his … state, mother had become a little overbearing about him.

Even more then she already was about her 'little baby'.

"We're already late so let's go Sasuke." Itachi said, giving his mother a quick hug and getting back in the car.

Sasuke dumped his stuff in the backseat, then got a kiss from his mother. Sasuke looked so annoyed and Itachi couldn't help but smile.

As much as Sasuke tried to act like he hated it, he would most likely hate it even more if she ever stopped.

Sasuke got in the car, whining about their mother.

"If you so much as try to check up on me, I swear I'll kick your ass. I can take care of myself." He huffed.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll have better things to do." Itachi replied as he started driving.

"Yeah, trying to bang your blonde boyfriend." Itachi could just imagine Sasuke wriggling his eyebrows.

"Yes I'm sure that's what I'll be up to all week long." He said sarcastically.

Sasuke laughed and the two brothers proceeded their ride to camp.

Itachi did wonder though what it would be like to spend time with Deidara 24/7.

He hoped the blonde wouldn't avoid him at the camp too.

The first day of camp had gone by pretty uneventful. As soon as Itachi and Sasuke had arrived, late thanks to the latter, they were pulled aside by their teachers.

They had both been voted supervisor of their part of camp and had to do all the checkups considering the tents, supplies and making sure everyone was setting up with the correct partner they were signed up with.

Itachi vaguely knew his partner, Hidan, because they had some classes together.

Itachi did not care for him much, because the guy was loud, aggressive and seemed to not care about anything regarding education.

"Hey Itachi." Hidan said, while lighting a cigarette.

"You've got everything under control, I'm out. If the teachers ask where I am, I'm out smoking."

Case and point.

Itachi sighed. All day had he instructed the rest of the students his age how to set up their tents, what their schedule was and the rules were.

All day, when he could have been spending time with Deidara, which he hadn't seen at all.

Sure they were in different parts of the camp, but Itachi still had this sinking feeling Deidara was still avoiding him.

He hoped tonight would be better, after all, all students were eating together.

Deidara and he could finally talk.

That evening had been loud, busy and no time for Itachi to be spending it with Deidara at all.

He had been annoyed to no end, because somehow the teachers had decided the supervisors would eat later, because it was a great plan to have them serve the food for the other students.

Sasuke had been a couple meters away, serving food with a look that could kill.

At the end of dinner students had avoided the potatoes Sasuke was in charge of all together.

Itachi however had passed out his vegetables with a smile on his face, because honestly he couldn't shake being proper about things.

He was the supervisor, so he would do what he could for the school.

However, all evening he had not seen Deidara and that made him worry.

He hadn't spotted the blonde either, so now that he had eaten too and it was time to go to bed, he decided to take a look in Deidara's part of camp.

He asked the supervisors there where Deidara's tent was set up, but when he got there, some guy told him Deidara had gone out for a walk.

Itachi frowned at that, because honestly, it was dark and cold out and they weren't even allowed to go anywhere on their own.

After having looked for Deidara some more, Itachi decided to head back to his tent for a flashlight to see better, when he heard yelling coming from his tent.

As Itachi came closer, he could make out his partner's voice.

"Hey dick, if you don't like it here, go back to your own fucking tent." He growled.

Such a vulgar guy he was.

"You're smoking in the tent! I'm choking in here yeah!"

Itachi's eyebrows raised. That was unmistakably Deidara.

What was he doing in his tent? Itachi was confused.

He opened his tent and was welcomed with the stench of cigarettes indeed.

He turned to Hidan first.

"Would you please do that outside?" He asked politely, earning a huff from Hidan.

"Fine." He gave Deidara a look that said 'shut up' then got out of the tent, letting Itachi in.

"Oh by the way, I'm sleeping in my girlfriends tent, so don't worry about me."

Itachi nodded, then closed the tent and turned to Deidara.

"Thank god you came here, that guy was slowly killing me with those cigarettes yeah." The blonde said.

"Dei why are you here?" Itachi asked. Deidara hadn't been anywhere that day and now suddenly he was in his tent?

What was up with him.

"Why? I wanted to see you of course. Haven't seen you all day yeah. Where were you?"

"Looking for you. _I've _been here doing my job all day. Where have you been?" Itachi asked.

Deidara raised his eyebrows for a second, then looked down, then grinned.

"Have you seen the surroundings here yet? There's this great lake just through the forest. It's amazing and I had to sketch it then forget the time. Sorry yeah." The blonde blushed slightly and Itachi smiled.

That did seem like something Deidara would do indeed.

"Have you even eaten yet?"

"Yeah yeah, the teachers gave me some leftovers after they scolded me for going off on my own." Deidara laughed.

The guy was just so stupid sometimes. He probably hadn't even been scolded more than an hour ago and here he was breaking rules again.

Itachi didn't care though, because at least they could spend time together.

Itachi adjusted the light that was hanging from the middle of the tent, before finally sitting down comfortably across from Deidara.

"You should show me that lake tomorrow. We'll have some time between activities."

Deidara seemed to eye him a little funny, but Itachi let it rest when he smiled.

The two started talking about their days like they always had before and Itachi wondered if he had been imagining Deidara avoiding him.

Maybe they had both been busy. Deidara seemed to have been doing a lot with Sasori these days, which kind of upset Itachi in a way.

But it was a good thing the two were spending that time together.

Deidara deserved to be happy and Sasori was a good guy at least.

It still stung though, especially now that Deidara looked so pretty in the dimmed light.

Suddenly a loud crash was heard which made Deidara gasp, then sigh in relief when it slowly started raining.

"It's just thunder yeah." He said, putting a hand on his heart and sighing once more.

The rain picked up fast and another crash of thunder was heard.

"It's still pretty far." Itachi told Deidara, when he saw the slightly worried expression on the blonde's face.

"Good." Deidara said. "But I'm staying here tonight yeah."

Itachi nodded, then looked at Deidara. The guy was just so pretty it was hard not to stare at him all night.

The light then started flickering, Itachi knew it must be an effect from the lighting.

He looked around, trying to find a flashlight, but saw none.

"Are… Are you sure the thunder is still far away yeah?"

Itachi looked up to see Deidara frantically looking around. Itachi smiled.

It was endearing to see how Deidara was scared of the thunder just because some shabby light was effected by it.

"We'll be fine Deidara, don't worry." He said reassuring.

Deidara looked at Itachi then and they locked eyes. At first, Itachi wanted to look away out of fear for wanting to keep staring into those eyes.

But it was too late and he just looked at those deep blue eyes, feeling his heartbeat rise.

Why was Deidara so incredibly, undeniably attractive?

Itachi was sure Deidara would turn away soon, but the blonde didn't. He kept staring too.

And it left Itachi totally confused.

Deidara seemed to be itching closer, but it was hard to tell as the light was now heavily flickering.

But Itachi could see the blonde swallow and then he suddenly realized he _himself_ was moving closer to Deidara as well.

What were they doing? What was Deidara doing?

But as Itachi looked into those eyes, he forgot all his questions. All he wanted to do was kiss Deidara.

Right now.

They were just a few inches away from each other and Deidara was leaning over to Itachi's side, leaning on his hands slightly.

Then the light turned off and they closed the gap.

Itachi could feel those soft lips and taste the sweet taste that was Deidara.

It was probably just for a brief moment, but it felt like forever to Itachi that he sat there, on his knees in a tent without lights, kissing his love interest.

Just as Itachi got over his initial surprise, Deidara pulled away and started stuttering.

"I-I, s-sorry." Deidara said. Itachi would've laughed had it not been for what had just happened.

He had kissed Deidara. His _friend_ Deidara who had a boyfriend.

The friend who he was sure didn't return his feelings. So all that was left to do was apologize.

It was then that Itachi realized Deidara was still blabbering.

"This was all my fault, Itachi I'm so sorry." Itachi could hear him something in the dark.

He was confused though, why was Deidara apologizing to him? What had he done wrong?

He suddenly felt suffocated by fear, because what if Deidara wouldn't want to spend time with him anymore?

He'd have to go back to a dull life again and frankly, Itachi didn't think he could do that.

They had to talk this through, Itachi did not want this to ruin their friendship.

So as he felt Deidara try to get past him, he grabbed the blonde and gently pushed him back.

"Hold on, I'll get a flashlight from somewhere." He said and started searching.

As he tried to find a flashlight in his bag, he was sure he had brought one, he could hear Deidara's heavy breathing.

Was he that mad? This wasn't good at all. He had to make up to the blonde, had to make it right.

Itachi finally found his flashlight and turned it on. He put it down so the tent was lidded again, then looked at Deidara.

Itachi frowned.

Deidara seemed like he was about to cry.

It was silent for a second, until Deidara started again.

"I'm sorry, I am. Please don't hate me for this, I know it's wrong, it's just that I've liked you for so long and… I'm sorry yeah."

Again with the apologies. Wait what did Deidara just say?

Itachi was sure he misheard it, surely Deidara meant that he liked him as a friend.

Right?

As the blonde was still going, Itachi finally got his nerves under control to talk as well.

"Deidara hold on here." Itachi sighed. "I was the one who kissed you, I should be apologizing."

Itachi saw Deidara frown, then shook his head.

"No you didn't yeah."

Was Deidara just denying what Itachi knew to be very very true? He was there, he knew what happened.

"Look, maybe I should've told you this way earlier but it just never seemed like the right time."

Itachi swallowed as he looked at Deidara, who in turn looked very expectantly at him.

"I've been in love with you Deidara, for a very long time. So _I'm_ sorry."

Deidara seemed really shocked, eyes wide and his mouth slightly open, he just stared at Itachi for a long time.

Then suddenly he looked... well Itachi didn't really know what he looked like. Sad?

"Why didn't you tell me yeah?" The blonde asked softly.

Itachi really didn't have a clear answer to it. He should've told Deidara, that seemed so logical now.

Fear really was a spiteful feeling, because really, the only reason he hadn't told Deidara was out of fear of rejection.

"I don't know really. I just thought you didn't feel that way and when I found out you were into men, Sasori quickly got in the picture."

"Well stupid, you should've told me from the start." Deidara scolded him and it made Itachi frown once more.

Stupid?

"Cause I fell for you pretty much within the first week yeah."

The two of them looked at each other as Itachi was convinced he had misheard again and that if he heard it right, his heart had stopped beating there for a second.

Deidara seemed so determined and Itachi just found something else he admired in the blonde.

His courage in pretty much everything he did and everything he said.

"So what do we do now?" Itachi asked, still not really grasping the idea that Deidara, the guy he had been in love with for so long, was returning his feelings.

"I feel really bad yeah." Deidara said, looking at the ground.

"What, why?" Itachi asked, maybe a little bit to shocked, but had he done something wrong?

"Not about you, I'm really, really happy about you yeah." Deidara looked Itachi straight in the eye and Itachi was convinced.

Deidara truly did fall for him and he really was happy that Itachi returned his feelings.

So what was bothering him?

Itachi suddenly felt completely delighted, even though Uchiha's didn't feel delighted, that was such a silly word.

But he still felt it. Deidara was in love with him too, how did that happen?

When did he suddenly become so lucky?

"You can be really dense for such a smart guy Itachi." Deidara said, chuckling even though he seemed pretty upset.

"There's still Sasori."

Shit, Deidara was right. He was in a relationship.

And nobody wanted Deidara to cheat. Not even Itachi, because he knew it would make Deidara feel awfull.

And that was the last thing Itachi wanted.

-.-.-

_Authors note: This started out as a really boring chapter oh my god! I'm so sorry that I had to cooperate it just for the storyline. Next chapter will be interesting after these mega confessions!_


End file.
